There are a lot of reasons why "Chinatown", Roman Polanski's classic from 1974, is often described as the first neo-noir. On one side, we have all the traditional ingredients of a film noir in the sense of Billy Wilder and John Huston: a mysterious femme fatale, a tough guy who - confronted with beauty - becomes tender, a suspenseful plot full of ambiguities, a highly sensual atmosphere and very stylish lighting and camerawork. We can find that all in the beautiful noir films from the 1940s. But then, in the midst of the 1970s New Hollywood movement, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne have broken the rules, if there's such a thing as rules. While the opening credits have a nice old-fashioned look, the first shots of the film introduce us to a new kind of noir. A noir shot in cinemascope and composed in earthly Technicolor photography. A film full of sadness, grief and despair, with an ending as unexpected as any other twist in the film.

"Chinatown" is a work of passion; a labor of love if you want. It breaths the spirit of the 40s, though it transforms it into an elegiac search for meaning and truth. It's J.J. Gittes' (Jack Nicholson) search, but as the film progresses and his point of view melts with the viewer's, you can't help but be emotionally crippled in the end, regardless of your first impression of Nicholson's sleazy character.

Then there’s Faye Dunaway, in what I can confidently call her finest performance. Her character Evelyn Mulwray isn’t as open and charming as Barbara Stanwyck in “Double Indemnity”, but she has something to hide, and a lot of mysterious facets beneath that. Evelyn is eloquent but distanced, intelligent but secretive. You may think of her as the most stereotypical of femme fatales, but that impression will change radically somewhere in the middle of the film. Watching Dunaway’s perfectly nuanced acting alone is enough to revisit this complex film over and over again.

One may talk about the change of Polanski's style after the tragic murder of his wife in 1969 - and I think that a lot of Polanski's grief is resembled in the character of J.J. Gittes - but "Chinatown" is also one of those lucky movie moments where everything fits together. In a glorious time where major studios gave their directors total artistic freedom, Towne and Polanski created a film worthy to be mentioned among noir precursors like "Double Indemnity" and "Out of the Past". What we have here is inventive and passionate filmmaking; and that's something that has become very rare in modern cinema.

C.P. Czarnecki

The Original Region 1 release:

Paramount

Region 1,4 - NTSC

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen Anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Chinatown: The Beginning and the End
• Chinatown: Filming

• Chinatown: The Legacy
• Trailer

DVD Release Date: November 6th, 2007
Keep Case

Chapters 16