Chinatown (1974) (Centennial Collection)

Chinatown - Best noir ever?

By Mark  Feb 25, 2005

Pros: Best noir ever?

Cons: Best noir ever?

Chinatown - Best noir ever? OK, I can already hear my critics. Chinatown was made 20 years too late for consideration. It's in colour, all those nasty camera angles and deep shades that noir stole from '30's German expressionism are miss...ing. There's nothing particularly novel in the film (eg. the flashback of Out of the Past, or point-of-view of Lady of the Lake are missing, etc.) In short, Chinatown isn't a REAL noir. Well you've got it wrong: the inversion of the usual character of the detective (Nicholson's smarmy divorce specialist); the use of the classic noir period to tell the story; the slow uncovering of a deeper plot through dogged investigation. This is much more than mere homage because Chinatown is noir to the core. The central feature of noir is, as we're constantly told, the way nothing is as it seems. This element is central to Chinatown too and Polanski tells a story that would never have been allowed back in the '50's or '40's. [It would never have got support from the producers] The final everything isn't as it seems is another inversion. Who are the BAD guys - they're the good guys. Why does the John Huston character do wrong - because he wants to be good - he wants to influence history - as he tells us. [definitely a preview of 21st century millennium themes (Iraq-WMDs-Blair)]. But this central plot which is slowly uncovered throughout the film is itself overturned in the ending because the REAL plot of the film is how we betray those we love. As in the end, when Jack Nicholson's character betrays the Faye Dunnaway character. Not so much a betrayal of one we love as a betrayal of love itself. Nothing is as it seems. Read more Less