Chinatown (1974)

Chinatown is a slow moving film but it shouldn't deter you from seeing it. The screenplay by Robert Towne is considered the template for all screenplays and it is incredibly rich n everything a script should be. Polanski is a master so there's no point covering that bit and the way he executes each scene is amazing. Nicholson and Dunaway are awesome and make a great pair. The cinematography is amazing and Los Angeles 1930's never looked this good. This is a film that should be taught in film schools on how to make a great film.

Renowned for its stylised performances, artful direction and riveting story telling technique, Roman Polanski's Chinatown captures a bygone era of crime drama. Jack Nicholson (in an Academy Award nominated performance) is Jack Gittes, a wisecracking private eye who makes "an honest living" off the murky moral climate of pre-war Los Angeles. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to look into her husband's extramarital affair, Gittes unknowingly stumbles across a web of double-dealings and deceit. What at first appears to be an open-and-shut case unravels right under Gitte's nose to expose a maelstrom of political scandal, widespread corruption and dark family secrets that all come to light, one night in Chinatown.Winner of the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, this ground-breaking film also garnered 11 Academy Award nominations in all (including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director). Chinatown is a landmark achievement in the classic film noir tradition, cementing its place as a cornerstone in every movie aficionado's collections.After reading through the blurb and writing down the information, I turn over the DVD case and can't help but thinking that this is one of the best films I've ever seen in a long, long time. Its place amongst the best Noir pictures is well deserved. One would argue that Noir cinema had its time in the 30s or 40s but was later tailed off by the arrival of more market-driven movies. Chinatown meets the criteria of any movie that wants to qualify as Noir: twist and turns, a touch of violence, a solid and rich plot that slowly diverges into several, an inquisitive, witty and cynic detective; someone who Raymond Chandler would be very proud of, characters well outlined whose loyalties slowly but surely are forcing them into witching alliances...and so many more. Yet, what has granted Chinatown a place of its own in cinema history is the changes it brought to the genre. Indeed, here what starts the plot off isn't gambling or a bereaved mistress but a water supply scandal and its cover-up in Los Angeles; there isn't either a femme fatale, although there's romance involved and the ending of the movie is one to remember. It's been rubber-stamped in my memory and It'll never go away. Not that I want it to.

I knew CHINATOWN was hailed as the paragon of a film noir, and that's why I finally got down to watching it. However, despite having known about the movie for quite a while, I wasn't really prepared for just how dark it could be. The movie starts slowly, with a private detective taking on what looks like a routine case. But soon he finds himself enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, murder, lies and deceit. The plot is like a perfect machine that relentlessly moves towards a final resolution that is truly epic and truly soul-wrenching.In a recent New York Times piece, they called CHINATOWN "a meditation on evil", which is spot-on. Set in 1937, this movie is just all-round perfect, first and foremost how everything is connected within the grand structure of the movie, that is rich in themes (water, evil, trust, guilt, greed) and even richer in suspense, as the audience—just like our protagonist—tries to find out what is happening. The story is "complex" for sure, but it's not "complicated". Everything makes sense in the end and the complexity pays off big time.Besides the impeccable screenplay, everything else about this movie is perfect as well. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway carry the movie with sophistication and dignity. Dunaway's stunning performance in particular fills every scene with an aura of mystery as you are trying to find out what her motives are. The set pieces are beautiful, the score is compelling; and camera-work and editing could not be any better. There is a reason this one is called a classic! So, if you're ready to delve deep into a richly layered exploration of the dark side of humanity—enjoy the ride. But don't expect to come back unscathed.

'Chinatown' is one of the best films of the 70s and without doubt one of the most memorable in the crime/detective genre. This is a first-rate picture all round with very few faults, if any. It's an intelligent mystery, complex yet relatively easy to follow, and has no difficulty in holding your attention from start to finish.Part of what makes 'Chinatown' so memorable is just how perfect it is in appearance. The cinematography is on another level to anything else I've seen from the 70s - each and every scene is crafted in such a stylish and elegant way. The script is also brilliant and gives us some classic lines, including of course the famous last line of the film, 'Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown'. 'Chinatown' is a film that lives up to its glowing reputation. It's difficult to fault this detective gem.