Chinatown

Finally getting back on track with these reviews. here's a shocker. this is the first film I watched for the American Film Buff Reviews that i had not previously seen, and boy howdy was it a good one.  Chinatown is one of those films that just brings a whole lot of style to the table. everything from it's characters to it's mystery riddled story line brings about one of the best love letters to the film noir genre I've ever seen. 

Set in the 1940's, Chinatown follows the life of private investigator Jake Gettes ( Jack Nicholson) has been hired to investigate Hollis Mullray , the chief engineer of the Los Angeles department of water and power. Jake soon discovers that not only is hollis  having an affair but that someone is emptying a reservoir into the ocean. When Jake goes public he finds out he was set up and that Hllis has been murdered.  Now Jake must dive into the darkest corners of Los Angeles along with the help of Hollis' mysterious wife in order to find out why he was murdered and what all this has to do with the Los Angeles water supply.

I found the story very unreal as i was watching it. Not so much in the storyline, how unreal can a dispute over water supplies be? It was more so in the overall atmosphere of the film that i felt this unreal almost dreamlike essence. not that this is bad thing, it actually adds to the identity of the film; giving it a 1940's film noir feel. which id you couldn't tell from the opening credits; is exactly what they were going for. Jack Nicholson's wise cracking but emotionally scarred Jake is your typical noir hero. down to that sneering anti hero look. but what is so interesting is that there is this feeling that he is desperate to break this character. He constantly refers to his dark past working for the DA in Chinatown which leads to him ultimately to the stories tragic ending. other archetypes include a love affair, the femme fatale character and a WHOLE LOT OF CORRUPTION. 

It's funny to say that this film is a typical Noir type story, when in actuality it really isn't. i was genuinely surprised at the conspiracy factor of the whole thing not to mention the dark twist involving Hollis's wife. what brings the film up to the front of the noir genre is that i shaw a late 20th century style to it that really does make it unique. the entire film gradually becomes darker and darker and what starts out as a simple "is he cheating on me plot" turns into a conspiracy that could cause thousand of californian's their lives. It's brilliantly written and one of the finer detective films I've had the privilege of viewing. 

Now i'd like to take a moment to focus on the ending. The entire time i was expecting this big old happy ending the bad guy loses,  the city is saved Jake gets the girl but this time around none of that is the case. in fact for the most part everybody loses. The villain is not only never confronted by the police on his crimes but he ultimately gets what he wants, with the death of  a major character at his expense. Jake is ultimately left alone in Chinatown never able to escape his past. that's a great ending . it not only brings about this indefinite truth that we must own up to our past because it'll never leave us but it also caters to the idea that things don't always work out. and as a detective there isn't always that "Gotcha moment.

And that's Chinatown. a very unique and stylistic take on an old and often unused genre. i personally loved and I'm sure many of you will too. so if you don't mind please see tho movie it'll be worth the viewing. 

p.s. it's on Netflix so no excuses.