Review of Chinatown (1974) by Jared S — 24 Nov 2011

Chinatown kept me interested the whole way through as a neo-noir flick surrounding a slew of information that made up one of the most complex stories that I've ever seen on film.

I watched it at 4 in the morning, but regardless I think it was a difficult movie to follow. Until now (after reflecting for at least half an hour) I haven't been able to sum up the movie or provide the absolute details of the case, but now that it makes so much more sense it's easy to see why on repeat viewings this might be worthy of being called a masterpiece.

The problem with just watching it once is that I didn't know who the villain was until late in the movie (as it isn't revealed until much later). I also didn't know why the Ida Sessions was hired by the villain or why Evelyn Mulwray chose to dismiss the case against Gittes right after the death of her husband.

I enjoyed it very much, but it doesn't rank among my favorite neo-noirs like Se7en, L.A. Confidential or Blade Runner.