A masterful blend of mystery, thriller, romance and suspense.

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2010)

The past shapes who we are for better or worse. It silently makes decisions for us. Ever so tenderly pushing us over the edge or holding us back. Putting words in our mouth or stifling intentions. It defines us and J.J. 'Jake' Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is no exception. He is a man completely shaped by his past. It's one he hides and avoids with obscure answers. He even uses the expression, "Let sleeping dogs lie" and notes, "Sometimes you're better off not knowing." But we do want to know. This is a mystery after all, and like Gittes, you will keep guessing until the credits roll.
"Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse." Says a confident and well presented J.J. Gittes speaking of his profession. Although you are watching a noir detective film, Gittes does not conform to the classical disillusioned detective working out of a shabby poorly lit office with slumped shoulders and a poisonously cynical outlook. Gittes is self assured and financially well off with a secretary and two assistant detectives.
Retired from the police force, he now mostly takes on adultery cases. Cue wealthy woman with a cheating husband. She hires Mr Gittes to follow her husband, Hollis Mulwray, a well-known chief engineer of L.A.'s 'Water and Power' company. Gittes and his assistants waste no time in wrapping up the case. Like the classical noir detective, Gittes follows his own set of morals and values which do not preclude him from making a quick buck by selling out the high profile Mr Mulwray and his adulterous ways to the newspapers. A buck is a buck and Mr Gittes is in business.
The first of many twists surprises us when the real Mrs Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), along with her lawyer, shows up at Gittes' office and presents him with a defamation lawsuit. "There's no point getting tough with me." Gittes says to Mrs Mulwray, who in turn responds, "I don't get tough with anyone, Mr Gettis. My lawyer does." And with that, I fell in love. Her pencil lined eyebrows and blood red lipstick framing a cold, almost detached expression as she sizes up and back-foots the ever in charge Mr Gittes.
Gittes realises he was set up and used for some other purpose. "I'm not supposed to be the one who's caught with his pants down." He does not intend on letting anyone use him. And so begins the game of who and why. A mystery takes shape and slowly unfolds over 130 minutes.
His curiosity, along with ours, grows further when Mr Mulwray turns up dead and the girl Mr Mulwray was seeing goes missing. Thugs try to 'persuade' him to quit it when he starts snooping around Water and Power's interests and one of them, played by the director Roman Polanski, splits his nostril with a switch-blade. Not one to back down, Gittes gives as much as he takes and driven by his need to solve the case, clear his name and help the leading lady, he calmly and relentlessly navigates the twists and turns to the bitter end.
Like any good mystery thriller, Chinatown is full of twists and none of them feel tacked on for effect. Each one cleverly progresses the story, redefines relationships and your suspicions on who is behind the murder and whether it's related to the larger conspiracy of the water kind. It keeps you guessing and interested and as the film progresses, two distinct arcs develop interrelated by the murder.
The grand arc concerns itself with who controls the water and what they stand to gain by denying L.A.'s citizens its use. We imagine many unseen figures in high places with resources behind them. Going against them is a lone detective. An ex-police officer who couldn't cut it in the force perhaps? As capable as Gittes seems, the odds area heavily stacked against him. A real underdog for the viewer to cheer.
I referred to the water arc as the 'grand' one because it affects the whole city, not because it's more interesting or more important than the small-scale arc, one of skeletons in the closet and family secrets coming to a head. If anything, this story arc, as intertwined as it is with the grand one, is the more intriguing and ultimately more memorable one. The family history, their relationships current and past, is what makes this detective story such a compelling one.
A third arc yet, more subtle but just as important, is played out by the man himself. It deals with his past while working in the police force in L.A.'s Chinatown. Nothing specific is alluded to but we glimpse enough to know that he was disillusioned. Despite his best efforts, he made little difference. There was a woman he cared for and in trying to help her, he hastened her demise. More than likely, Gittes quit the police force as a direct result of this event.
Most of this information is revealed in one great scene where our two leads lay naked in bed in lazy abandon of all their troubles. Jake comes across as a deeply troubled man haunted by his past. Evelyn, for her part, has let her guard down and is honestly affectionate and caring for the first time. She has just asked whether the girl he cared for died when the phone rings. And it rings as she holds his eyes waiting, hoping as much as us for an answer. It doesn't come. She answers the phone and we're racing off into more suspense.
Chinatown is a masterful blend of mystery, thriller, romance and suspense packaged in a hard boiled detective noir story. It features outstanding performances from the two leads in their prime. Coupled with confident direction from Roman Polanski and an Oscar winning script from Robert Towne, it's sure to please every fan of cinema.