Review of Chinatown (1974) by Edward S — 22 Oct 2011

The ending is terrible, almost ruins this movie, and I'll tell you why: it's a hackneyed message that "Chinatown" does not deserve. The whole film has amazing suspense and top notch cinematography that gives it that mysterious yet beautiful feel. Jack Nicholson... well, let's just say that I never knew how good he was, and "Chinatown" shows him at his best. The film is a noir and detective masterpiece, one that is so involving and so meticulously crafted. The character development is incredible and so is the progression of the plot. Polanski does the job of putting us in Nicholson's position and Nicholson does the job of bringing private eye Gittes to life. I can praise the film all day, but in the end a film's capper is crucial, and "Chinatown"s ending is one of the great disappointments in cinematic history.

Everybody knows the message is "That's life; it doesn't always go as planned", or some variation of that commercial proverb; anybody with half a brain cell can surmise that message. The only question is, "why?". That message does not fit with the flow of the rest of the film and the events leading up to the ending was the opposite of what we expected. If the film was crafted for a certain breed of ending and goes through the trouble of playing with our expectations, then to me that undermines the film's purpose. It comes off as pretentious and trying to be unique instead of solidifying itself as unique by having an ending that is fitting for the rest of the film, which is already very innovative and encapsulating. The attempt of telling us that life doesn't always go as planned is futile; we know that, we have to live it everyday. The pessimistic message (but not realistic, because one can't go through the entire film thinking that was the ending they were going to get and if the film were going to be realistic then it would have ended in the first 10 minutes with Gittes hitting a dead end or his assassination; private detective stories in general are not realistic) that sums the film is generic and reminiscent of amateur arthouse films. "Chinatown" doesn't deserve that wannabee contrarian crap.

I mean... I could force myself to jump on the bandwagon and accept "Chinatown" in its entirety, praising the ending as hipst- oh, I mean unique, but every time I watch it, by knowing the ending, the film feels so joyless and self-destructive because of the non-cohesiveness and lapse of logic that the it leaves on. However, if cynical is your cup of tea, then "Chinatown" is no doubt one of the best things that can ever happen to you.