Polanski's greatest work

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2007)

Chinatown is a thinking man's noir that completely surpasses expectation. Nicholson is at his conniving best as Jake Gittes and there are perhaps no greater villains than Hollis Mulray.
Chinatown casts a spell with a tone that is both forlorn and mysterious - the film starts slow and builds an incredible tension that wraps you up until its overwhelming conclusion.
Be prepared for raw nerves and the feeling that every character is putting on a show, facade driven like the town itself.
The many supporting actors are amazing! Everyone is so well cast and totally believable in their roles, including Polanksi himself, who plays a brief but unforgettable mini-thug who knows how to wield a blade. Every roll is a kind of character study, a breakdown of morality in its varying forms and often the best characters turn out to be the most corrupt or deceitful while the worst characters surprise you with traits that are more noble than expected.
Jerry Goldsmith's work on the soundtrack really evokes the era in both its polish and seediness. It drives home the film-noir tone and reinforces the films variation of themes.
The first time I saw this movie I was living in Alabama and LA seemed like a distant and foreign place. But a few years later there was a big scandal in the state over parks and wildlife and I suddenly felt this immense connection between the way it was playing out and the feeling I had while watching Chinatown, proving to me how effective this film is from start to finish.