Review of Chinatown (1974) by Wayne K — 24 Mar 2018

Lauded for it's yardstick screenplay and multi-layered storyline, Chinatown, for me, didn't quite live up to its hype. There's long sections of not much happening and I wasn't as invested in the mystery as I'd like to be.

But Jack Nicholson gives an excellent performance that likely thrust him into fully-fledged leading man status. Faye Dunaway is admirably ambiguous, keeping us guessing about her motivation and true nature throughout.

The screenplay succeeds because we learn all the clues as the main character does. Being shot entirely from his perspective, we're constantly in his state of mind. It might be a complicated tale, but we're given time to decipher it, and it never gets too much to handle.

The ending is pretty abrupt but satisfyingly bleak, and the final line has become synonymous with leaving alone that which you can't change, regardless of how hard you try. I won't be watching it again anytime soon, but I'm glad I got to see what is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, even if I don't quite concur with the consensus.