Movie- "Chinatown" -1974
Language- English
Director- Roman Polanski
Runtime- 130 minutes
Awards-
Academy Awards- Best writing, original screenplay
BAFTA Awards- Best Director / Best Actor / & Best Screenplay
Bodil Awards- Best Non-European Film
Edgar Allen Poe Awards- Best Motion Picture
Fotogrammas de Plata- Best foreign movie performer
Golden Globes- Best Director / Best Motion Picture / Best Actor / & Best Screenplay
And many many more...
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Chinatown was definitely an interesting film and a genre I would put it in would be like a modern day Noir film. The film was shot in color which is not the norm for a Noir but it still had all the other characteristics. Also typical of Noir films is low lighting which the movie was full of, except during the day I guess. The crime, curious detective, suspense, and of course the girl where all present in Chinatown except the ending was not one to be expected. Most movies the good guy wins, but in this film that was not so. But hey, it's Chinatown.
An article we are going to look at is from the Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert. In this article he talks about the genre a little bit and he said, "later actors were able to slip into the role of noir detective like pulling on a comfortable sweater. But great actors don't follow rules, they illustrate them." Jack Nicholson did an exceptionable job in Chinatown and it shows in the amount of awards the film won. Another thing Roger Ebert mentioned in the article was ""Chinatown" was seen as a neo-noir when it was released -- an update on an old genre. Now years have passed and film history blurs a little, and it seems to settle easily beside the original noirs. That is a compliment." I found that statement to be intriguing because I even called it more of a "modern day" Noir film.
Another article from EBSCOhost written by Wes Gehring and talks about the "dark" side of Chinatown. The movie had murder, violence, sex, and corruption. On top of that it ended with the bad guy winning and getting away with a lot of serious crimes. The detective is defeated at the end and the typical luring Noir female was killed at the end. These traits made for a good movie and really leaves one with a different feeling from other films. The article ends with a statement that nobody can disagree with, ""Chinatown" is a masterpiece of the dark side."
In my opinion Chinatown is a late era Noir film with a more modern touch than older Noir films. The film was full of suspense yet there were some scenes where nothing much was happening at all. The dark low light nature of the film is typical for Noir but at times it seemed to dark to the point where you can't tell what's really happening. Other than that the acting was fantastic and the plot was fantastic. The ending was unexpected when the bad guy won and that's just not how I expected it to all end.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000206/REVIEWS08/2060301/1023
http://library.kean.edu:2055/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=111&sid=ce029896-033d-48da-827a-d0db614d32f9%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCx1cmwsY3BpZCZjdXN0aWQ9a2VhbmluZiZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=27538546
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