Downtown in Chinatown

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2006)

The opening credits; scrolling down the screen so uniformed, and to such classic 'slooth' music that one could believe the film was actually made in the time that the music was popularized by the murder mystery genre, the nineteen thirties. Trumpets playing slowly as the main character, Jake 'J.J.' Gittes (Jack Nicholson), is revealed to us. As an ex-police officer, Jake now deals purely in private investigation, a real 'slooth' for hire, and he is incredibly good at what he does. The movie is based around the murder of a Los Angeles Water and Power Works Chief Engineer, and how water is the root of life and social power to the City of Los Angeles. Although the movie is technically a murder mystery, there is a real underlining theme of how people with power will do anything to keep that power, and when the line should be drawn between morals and greed.
Faye Dunaway plays Evelyn Mulwray, the wife of the murdered engineer. As the film progresses we are thrown back and forth between trusting that the mogul's wife is innocent or believing that she is behind the whole murder. We are not alone in the query of believing the blonde bombshell, Gittes as well is deceived by her, but only until he gets the bottom of the case. Jack Nicholson plays the role of the tough cop very well. He's stern, witty, and sharp, the characteristics that truly define a P.I. in this genre. Although he is mislead at times, there wasn't a second that I thought he wouldn't figure the whole thing out.
Roman Polanski, the director of this film, brilliantly molded the murder mystery with ideals about the corrupt nature of capitalism. The co-founder of the L.A. Water and Power Works Department, and murderer in the film, is portrayed in a way that we come understand the situation he is in and the lengths at which he will go to make sure he comes out on top. At times I did relate to him in a sense that he didn't want to lose what he had worked so hard to build, but his actions to keep his empire afloat become so extreme that I was disgusted with the entire thought of the capitalistic goal: to make the almighty dollar.
We come to find out that the murderous tycoon and his whole family is just as out of whack as his ethics. Evelyn Mulwray, his daughter, had a sick, morbid relationship with her corrupt father, which resulted in the conception of a daughter. The plot from there on in shifts from trying to put your finger on a murderer, to the trials of trying to escape a twisted life. All in all, the movie comes together quite well, and as much as you are kept on the edge of your seat with the suspense of the mystery, you are left with the powerful feeling that maybe capitalism isn't the way to go.