Great noir

Rating: 7/10 (8 August 2005)

I've often said that if I had the use of a time machine that probably the first place I would go would be California in the 1970's, when filmmakers like Polanski, Altman, Spielberg and even George Lucas were in full swing in their crafts. The 1970's was possibly the last fantastic decade of cinema, where the films were adventurous and the directors were iconoclastic. One of the most revered and famous films from this great decade is Roman Polanski's 1974 crime thriller "Chinatown".
Set in the 1930's, "Chinatown" stars Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes, a private detective who with two associates, seems to specialize mostly in adultery cases. When a woman comes into his offices and introduces herself as Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, he initially turns down her request to tail her husband. He finally gives in, however, and begins to look into Mulwray's deal. It turns out that he is the chief engineer of the water department, and times are tough right now because of a drought. Jake is confused when he sees Mulwray looking at several parcels of land, but finally meets his objective when he is able to photograph Mulwray with another woman. When the story breaks that Mulwray (currently a controversial figure because he refuses to build an unsafe structure that the public at large thinks is a good idea) is stepping out on his wife, Jake gets a visit from Evelyn Mulwray threatening to sue. Except this Mrs. Mulwray (Dunaway) is completely different, and is the "real Mrs. Mulwray". When Mr. Mulwray turns up dead shortly thereafter, Jake finds himself in the middle of several mysteries, all which seem to point toward the direction of Evelyn and her father, one of the city's richest and most corrupt businessmen, Noah Cross. (John Huston) The greatest element of "Chinatown" is in my opinion, also something that could serve as a deterrent to some. I really liked the slow, drawn out plot. Polanski and Towne did not seem to have a problem taking their time with the pacing on the film, something that I personally found to be refreshing. Instead of rushing to the conclusion, or having fantastic fillers, it is clear how comfortable Polanski is with the material and his actors in that he takes as much time as needed to provide pertinent backgrounds and details. The decision to remove Nicholson's narration and simply have the audience discovering all of the clues along with him was brilliant. Though narration can be a very effective tool, unfortunately it is a device that was done to perfection in the 1940's (and some of the films of the 50's) and emulators don't always do the best job with it. Anyone who is looking for flash and rapid-fire cuts are not going to get that with this film. What one gets is a bright and colorful California setting, where some scenes look like Hockney paintings if they were set in the 1930's. It is hard to describe how lush the cinematography is, but if I had to put it into words, non-sensically I would compare it to butter; that everything looks velvety and soft. Only at night does the scenery turn sharp and slightly harsh.
The acting in "Chinatown" was as good as I expected, and that is to say superior. Nicholson, one of the greatest actors of the past four decades, put together a low key, almost introspective performance as Gittes. Though he is indeed mischievous (how could he not be with those eyebrows and that grin, used to full effect in this film) Nicholson seems to temper his normally explosive style. Faye Dunaway, an incredibly talented actress, who, even if she hadn't played her in an infamous film, evokes the memory of Joan Crawford before she started doing her weird films in the 1950's & 1960's, was the perfect counterpart to Gittes. At times icy enough that you would expect her to spit cubes, and other times violently passionate, she shows some of her best work in this film and is achingly gorgeous to boot. The third main figure is probably the best because his performance was most surprising, and that was John Huston's. He not only directed one of the greatest early noir films ("The Maltese Falcon") and is one of the greatest directors of the 20th century, but he really puts in a dark and gritty performance as Noah Cross; and he's REALLY convincing. I was absolutely delighted in the choice to cast him, because while there are admittedly a lot of actors who could have done this role, it was still really cool to see Huston do it.
All of this is not to say that I adored "Chinatown". Frankly, I thought it was a good movie, but probably in the same way that people scratch their head at why "Citizen Kane" is often called the best film of all time, I kind of did the same in terms of why say, Entertainment Weekly would name it the #4 film of all time. However, even though I definitely liked it, despite not loving it, I can see its importance in film history and I can really appreciate the technical aspects that made up the film. That is why I have no problem rating it a 7/10.
--Shelly