Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974): U.S.
Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy. Viewed on DVD.
“She’s my daughter, she’s my sister, she’s my daughter, my sister…,” are the haunting words erupting from Evelyn Mulwray as Jake Gittes slaps her around, forcing the truth from her lips.
If ever there was a moment in screen history when the stars were aligned correctly, this was it. Chinatown, a neo-noir classic, epitomized New Hollywood Cinema at its best, and its production was a perfect melding of creative genius; producer Robert Evans, writer Robert Towne, director Roman Polanski, and a terrific pairing of Jack Nicholson as the inimitable gumshoe and Faye Dunaway as the atypical femme fatale.
The film is loosely based on realistic accounts of the history of the Los Angeles aqueduct, the corrupt acquiring of water rights, and the secretive diversion of water into the San Fernando Valley. Hollis Mulwray is the lead engineer for the Los Angeles Water Department and accused of being a philanderer. While Gittes is hired to tail him, Mulwray’s body is discovered drowned in a fresh water reservoir, but with saltwater in his lungs.
Gittes is jerked around continually by the water department, the LAPD, two Mrs. Mulwrays and the creepy but wealthy Noah Cross. Jake eventually falls for the real Mrs. Mulwray, but not knowing who to trust, he is forced to rough her up a bit until she divulges her dirty little secret and he then gains a better understanding of the situation.
With a harrowing finale in which Evelyn is killed and her sister/daughter is left in the comforting hands of the incestuous Noah Cross, Jake is told to “Forget it…it’s Chinatown.”
In true film noir fashion, the setting is in and around Los Angeles, peppered with perfect dialogue and accompanied by a poignant musical score, yet in true 1970s fashion, the story is bleak with no happy resolve for any of the main characters.
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