Superb film

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2006)

Polanski made "Chinatown" in the midst of artistic films. They do not require happy endings or the perfect shots. "Chinatown" creates the L.A. scene for a marriage detective, Nicholson, who gets caught up in a murder case. His involvement instigates a relationship with the woman whose life is wrapped up in the murder. However, the movie ends tragically by having the woman die and the murderer runs free. There are signs that point to this ending such as when J.J. surprises Evelyn in her car, she drops her head on the steering wheel and beeps the horn shortly, and dogs barking in the distance follow the sound. The end has Evelyn's head falling into the steering wheel when she is shot, and silence overcomes the crowd as she falls in silence into the detective's hands. The simplistic plot continually develops into a larger, more complex plot. While the movie initially has Nicholson discovering an affair, it turns into a plot for murder, and every movement and sign in the movie points toward something bigger even from the start. The man in the barber tells him that he does not know what he is getting into. This is very accurate, because the plot then takes another twist with the wife coming in saying that the other girl was not the wife. The plot is extremely complex and yet simple enough for the audience to understand. While the plot is very dark, Polanski sets up the atmosphere to match. The offices of Nicholson and Dunaway's husband produce that eerie feeling that something more is going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile, the supporting casts do a superb job in subtly constructing a tone of intricate involvement between each other. Jack Nicholson is a tough detective who seems aloof, but his affection for Dunaway becomes clear as he stands in silence upon her death. Dunaway similarly has a character that the audience seems to think they have pinned down. However, as the film progresses, so does her character. The famous scene where Nicholson slaps her in the face as she says, "daughter, sister, daughter, sister" becomes a landmark for showing how confusing it becomes to understand her. Huston darkens her intricate personality, but we do not know the actual problem until that scene. Meanwhile, Huston effectively comes across as an innocent old man, when he is the darkest character in the film. The actors all did an amazing job of successfully attaining that complex role while making it look simplistic.