Review of Chinatown (1974) by Brandon S — 04 Jan 2012

1974 was a year of intense inner turmoil for the United States. We were a country grappling with the aftermath of Vietnam, and beginning to understand the vast reaches of political corruption in the Watergate scandal. It was a period in our history were public cynicism had reached it's peak. Once a person understands this moment in American history one can gain an appreciation of how Chinatown would come to be. Film noir is dark and cynical to it's very core, but Chinatown somehow manages to reach down into the very darkest depths of the human soul.

It all begins with water. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private dectective just assigned by Mrs. Mulwray to keep an eye on a Mr. Mulray, who she feels has been unfaithful. Turns out this Mr. Mulray is the famous Hollis Mulray, head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and power. He's been making plenty of headlines with his opposition to the construction of a new water Dam. A previous dam had given way leading to the deaths of hudreds of people.

After a few days of snooping around, he is confronted by the real Mrs. Mulray (played by Faye Dunaway). Turns out someone hired this other Mulray to hire Gittes, and sully Mr. Mulray's good name. Gittes knows that everyone is hiding something, but he has no idea what. He has no idea he is in way over his head.

What Polanski does so well in this film, as in his previous film Rosemary's Baby, is that constant feeling of paranoia and dread. Because Mr. Gittes never seems to know quite what's going on, we always feel a bit in the dark ourselves. We only know what he knows, so we never know what's around the corner, but we just always feel that noose getting tighter and tighter.

Everyone here gives superb performances. Jack Nicholson gives in my opinion the best in his career. He would win Oscar's with more showey performances in One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment, but there is a sadness and vulnerability that really drives that performance home. Faye Dunaway plays it perfectly, a woman full of shame, trying desperately to hold her poker face. And John Huston, in a genious bit of casting, plays Noah Cross, a man so evil and slimy that he may well be the devil himself. His final triumph is the most heartbreaking of scenes, sealing the doomed fate of Gittes and Mrs. Mulray.