Review 239: Chinatown

Words can not describe Chinatown. It's a masterpeice and one of Roman Polanski's best movies,

It's 1937 Los Angeles. Specializing in cases of cheating spouses, private investigator Jake 'J.J.' Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is tailing Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), whose wife suspects him of marital infidelity. Mulwray is the high profile chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Him being high profile is because of the chronic drought in the Los Angeles area and the importance of fresh water to the growing community. Most of what Gittes witnesses in following Mulwray are some usual and some not so usual business dealings, among the former being a public meeting for construction of a new dam to create an additional water supply for Los Angeles, the dam which Mulwray opposes. But Gittes eventually witnesses Mulwray meeting with a young unknown woman who is not his wife. Once news of the supposed tryst between Mulwray and this woman hits the media, additional information comes to light that makes Gittes believe that Mulwray is being framed for something and that he himself is being set-up. Gittes is assisted in his investigation of the issue behind Mulwray's framing and his own set-up by Mulwray's wife, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). Despite Evelyn's help, Gittes also believes that she isn't being totally forthright with him. The further he gets into the investigation, the more secrets he uncovers about the professional and personal dealings of the Mulwrays, which includes Mulwray's former business partnership with Evelyn's father, Noah Cross. The identity of the unknown woman may be the key to uncovering the whole story.

The plot is a sheer genius, it's what I call a real mind bender, it's a real multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama and as a result of all this, it gets you thinking and keeps you interested the whole way through. But at the heart of it all is a story about coruption and partially a historical drama (it's inspired by the California Water Wars of that era). In that period, water had become a very scarce commodity in Calafornia and director Roman Polanski takes this concept to a whole new level of coruption with governmental official being corupted by one man's design for ultimate power and richest and it shows that if you control the water you control the whole development of the country and its people. It really does show how important water is-its the fountain of life.

Roman Polanski's direction is precise, stylish, the cinematography is gorgeous, the score by Jerry Goldsmith is majestic, beautiful and definatly one of Goldsmith's finest, the production design is mystical and captures the fleare of the 1937, the costumes are colourful, the make up is rich, the violence is brutal, the fight scenes are intensely shot and well choreographed, the suspense is killing, the scenery is breathtaking, the props are immaculate and the ending was superb.

The acting is spectacular, Jack Nicholson gives on of the best performances of his career as 'J.J.' Gittes, I instantly fell in love with his performance the minute he utterd his first few lines, his performance just ozzes the word "cool."

Faye Dunaway is luminous and lovely as Evelyn Cross Mulwray,

John Huston is so slimey and creepy (in a good way) as Noah Cross,

Roman Polanski's fine in his cameo and the rest of the cast is fantastic.

Chinatown is one of Roman Polanski's best films and a film that keeps you focuses the whole way, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.