Polanski's truly perfect motion picture

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2008)

Chinatown (1974)
Top 2 - 1974
Top 20 - All Time
I have seen very few other films that look, sound, move and breathe so perfectly. Chinatown is 'cinematic perfection; truly. Superb performances, artful direction, wonderful cinematography, a beautiful score by Jerry Goldsmith on top of a complex storyline.
There is no doubt that this is one of the greatest films ever made. A rare, vintage, unique masterpiece.
Jack Nicholson is JJ Gittes, a wisecracking detective who makes "an honest living" off the murky moral climate of pre-war Los Angeles. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband's extramarital affair, Gittes unknowingly stumbles across a web of double dealings and deceit. What at first appears a straightforward case, unravels right under Gitte's (severed) nose to expose a maelstrom of political scandal, widespread corruption and dark family secrets that all come to light, one night in CHINATOWN.
This masterpiece nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only winning for Original Screenplay was unluckily released the same year as 'The Godfather Part II' also one of the best films ever to be made, and the Academy opted for the latter. Be it that it was released one year earlier, Chinatown would have won 9 Oscars.
This is one of the greatest films of all time, a landmark in the history of cinema and a film that belongs in every film lover's collection.
10.0/10