IT'S CLASSICS TIME! "CHINATOWN"

Now, I make no pretences at being a big cinema connoisseur as you all know. There is a lot in the world of film I have yet to explore, a lot of great directors I have yet to “re-discover”. Roman Polanski was one of them. Now I have heard a lot about him – well haven’t we all – and a few of my colleagues (especially one with a six year-old daughter – you know why I specified this btw, right? If not just Google the guy.) say that they are so prejudiced and disgusted by what they have heard that they would never watch his films. That it would turn their stomach. Maybe you share this opinion, I honestly don’t know. I personally have, over the years, somehow managed to separate the artistic side of someone and the “personal” side. What I mean is, there are several actors, directors, writers who I dislike personally (well Jesus, when I say personally – you get what I mean, right?) whose works I thoroughly enjoy. Take Wagner for instance. A thoroughly unpleasant and arrogant man by all accounts but did that stop him being a great composer? Same difference here. And no matter what you may or may not think of him, Mr. Polanski is without a doubt, one GREAT director. I am looking forward to getting my grubby paws on more of his work. In the meanwhile, however, welcome to Chinatown…
Now, our hero is J.J. Gittes (a mind-blowingly young Jack Nicholson. I won’t go as far as saying he hasn’t aged well but he was A LOOKER when he was younger, no?). Mr. Gittes is a private investigator. Unfaithful spouses are his main bread and butter and he thinks very little of the whole event when a woman claiming to be the wife of Hollis Mulwray one of the senior officials on the Water and Energy Board of L.A. comes to him, asking for proof her husband is unfaithful. Mr. Gittes does what he does best, and obtains photos of the gentleman with a young woman – not actually risqué but intimate. These leak to the press, there is a SCANDAL. Mr. Gittes is ok with this – it’s just publicity for him. So imagine his shock when he enters his office and comes face to face with the REAL Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) absolutely irate and threatening to drag him through the courts… Now Mr. Gettys may have few principals in his line work but being made a fool of is a MAJOR dislike. So he starts investigating what on earth really happened. He will find himself in the middle of intrigue and scandal on a national basis. He will also uncover a rather horrible secret of a very personal nature…
This film, I have to say, is not for the faint hearted or faint stomached. You won’t “get” what I mean until you reach the end (and the film is two hours long so if you get that far, you will undoubtedly watch the end) and by that time, it will be “too late”. I mean it starts off (if you can with a clear conscience call 90 minutes of a film “starts off” – I evidently can! =)) as your typical whodunit from the 60’s. Charismatic hero with a slightly shady past, beautiful damsels in distress, secrets, intrigue… I was amused to note Mr. Polanski actually cast himself as a “mobster” (if you watched and are unsure, he’s the one who cuts Jack Nicholson’s nose). Then, suddenly, the film derails into something else. Nothing “psychedelic” but well, disturbing… Some might say “what did you expect from a guy like that” and carry on being prejudiced. Personally, I admire a director that can twist the plot like that at the end. Admittedly, the direction he twisted it in was not actually “pleasant” but hand on heart, I never expected it. Never saw it coming. And, for those of you to whom this matters (my dear Mother is one of them) no, it most certainly does NOT have a happy ending. It starts of as a whodunit and ends in a film noir in fact – a successful yet slightly disturbing combination… Not to mention the fact that the film actually won an Oscar for Best Screenplay (and 10 nominations from everything from Best Director to Best Sound)
And what of the title, Chinatown? Well, although the film ends in Chinatown, Chinatown itself features very VERY little in the film physically; it is very present though, despite that. It is more of a symbol: It looms all through the film reminding us that life is in fact very unfair, that the good and innocent do not always triumph and the baddies WILL get away with it if they have the means and the connections. That’s why the last line of the film has become something of a movie classic “Come on Jake, this is Chinatown…” I understand completely if this brand of realism is not something you want to think about on the precious evening you have to yourself or your weekend – so be warned… None the less, the film deserves respect, NO two ways about it.