A Haunting Atmosphere

Rating: 5/10 (1 July 2003)

This film reminds me of "The Big Sleep" with Bogie and Bacall, although "Chinatown" is more enjoyable than the 1946 so-called "classic". Both Jake Gittes and Philip Marlowe exude smugness and insolence; both have to contend with, and are inexorably drawn to, classy women with secrets. And typical of movies that feature gumshoe detectives, the stories of both "The Big Sleep" and "Chinatown" are confusing and convoluted.
"Chinatown" combines power and corruption with sex and murder into a needlessly complex plot, written perhaps deliberately to confound viewers, in keeping with traditional noir doctrine, which espouses that confusion equals arty sophistication.
So who did kill Ida Sessions, and how did she get possession of those pictures? Fans of "Chinatown" would regard such questions as irrelevant, just as fans of "The Big Sleep" would regard the question of who killed Owen Taylor irrelevant. Who cares who the killer was, so long as you have the infallible Nicholson, as heir to the infallible Bogart, to distract attention from the story. Sorry, but I just don't agree that a muddled story can be a film's virtue.
"Chinatown" does have its strengths. Good acting permeates the film, even among minor characters. But the performance of John Huston was inspired (pardon the irony), and should have been recognized as such with an academy award. The music, too, is impressive. The slow, lonely horn evokes a dark and brooding mood totally in sync with the classy cinematography.
This film has a haunting cinematic atmosphere and, to some extent, that helps overcome a perplexing plot.