Chinatown

    Chinatown was directed in 1974 by Roman Polanski but the film feels older. The settings, the costumes, and the way the actors talk all lend to the idea that this film could have happened just the way it unfolds in a time not so very long ago. This is accomplished because the movie unfolds showing only one point of view—Gittes (Nicholson)—and entirely in temporal order. While certain events most likely aren’t entirely original—such as Gittes and Evelyn (Dunaway) having a smoke after sex—it only lends more to the perception that these events are realistic because so much about them and the setting are familiar. The film is coherent because the sense of expectancy and normalness (despite outrageous events occurring) is never broken.

    Clues and foreshadowing (such as a lost shoe or a gardener replacing grass) are seamlessly woven into the story. It is impossible to catch all of these clues in one viewing, nor fully understand the plot, because this is the type of film that has so many things happening on multiple levels that one cannot take it all in at once. The restricted narration that Polanski uses keeps one guessing and wondering what will happen next. Because there is only one line of plot development the viewer empathizes strongly with Gittes, further, one comes away wanting to see it again and wondering what Gittes could have done differently. All of this lends to the intensity of effect and the complexity of the film.