Chinatown

Cherchez la femme. Polanski’s grasp of the excellent and well-thought out screenplay is a joy to watch. Sun-parched L.A. is stifling with a heavy and paranoid atmosphere, especially when no water comes out of the faucet. I’m not a big fan of Nicholson, but here he really is excellent and gives the hero the necessary authenticity. The crushing finale is just the icing on the cake. In the 70s this must have almost been a revolution in cinema. Bad for the glass. (20/03/2013)

The basic structure of the story is quite similar to L.A. Confidential, with mysterious murders, a lot of peripheral characters, a foggy and unpredictable plot, and slowly revealing connections that gradually fit into a complex pattern of the motive of the murder. Roman Polanski brilliantly captured the atmosphere of a classic noir film. Throughout most of the film you can see a constant twilight, which gives it a special mysterious touch. (13/04/2005)

I like Polanski’s movies. I have a weakness for noir. And for Nicholson as a young actor, when he hadn’t yet got into the habit of acting himself from various directions. Chinatown isn’t the best noir movie ever. But it certainly is one of the best. I can see just one “serious" negative. That it wasn’t filmed in black and white, as Polanski originally intended. (27/11/2004)

I have one problem with Chinatown, as deeply mysterious and conspiratorial as the story appears to be, I found it rather falsely super-clever and a bit unnecessarily drawn out in the end. But that doesn't change the fact that it works superbly as a colourful homage to film-noir, that the atmosphere is properly suffocating, the actors are excellent and that Polanski stages some of the climactic scenes in a very impressive, almost unique in its time, visual way. Rarely you’ll feel so sad that noir has disappeared from the film industry as when you watch Chinatown, a work of form that is undoubtedly perfect and beautiful... (08/02/2016)

It's not exactly a film noir because it lacks the main character's accompanying monologue. Instead, it reminded me of L.A. Confidential (yes, I know it's considerably younger, but I saw it first). It also felt as if this movie inspired the creators of Rango. The story was very well constructed, the cast was fantastic, and Roman Polański's direction style usually suits me. Everything came together in perfect harmony; there was a great atmosphere and tension, and I was immensely pleased with how the conclusion was handled. It's evident that film themes come and go, but corruption is a solid rock that doesn't succumb to erosion in that vast ocean of change. / Lesson learned: If your daughter is also your sister, something is not quite right. (15/01/2023)