Forget it, Jake.

[eurydicebound]

So I watched Chinatown last night. It's very hard to say whether I really liked it or not, but I'm definitely still thinking about it, so I can tell it's a film rather than a movie or a flick. I think I liked it. I didn't dislike it. Hmmm.

I find it really hard to discuss without assuming that you've seen it, although I realize that many of you have not. If you like noir, it's definitely worth seeing. It is not really set in Chinatown, despite the title. At least, not in a physical sense. Despite my love for pattern recognition, I tend to be somewhat literal minded when it comes to film. I don't seek out allegory or assume anything about subtle metaphors. Thus great (or at least pretentious) film is often lost on me. It served as an interesting counterpoint to the Nero Wolfe episodes I've been watching of late -- with NW being very stylized and fluffy to a certain extent, and Chinatown much grittier.

I think I found myself coming out of it with a both a feeling that I should shower to try to wash some of the corruption and fatalism out of my brain, and a "WTF?" feeling about various points in the plot. The points are logical, however, and really aren't that WTF. Certainly not as compared to The Big Sleep or something of that nature. I think at least in part it's because we follow Gittes (Nicholson's) character so closely that we only learn things as he does. In The Big Sleep, this isn't a huge deal because it's so staged that we are content to observe events as they unfold. Chinatown is a far more realistic production, though, and put together with enough skill that I found myself frustrated with Gittes inability to see things coming, and found myself shocked by the turns and twists as he was. Everything at the end just came too far and too fast and -- like that character -- at the end, there is nothing you can do but watch helplessly as it all unravels.

I find myself in a mood to discuss it, so if you've seen it and are thus motivated, let me know.

Comments

[effrenatus.livejournal.com]

Have you seen both versions of The Big Sleep? Wikipedia has info on the differences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep_%281946_film%29#Background

Years ago, I got to see the original cut at the Neptune, including the mini-documentary on the two versions. It was very cool.

-mls

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I have indeed. The Netflix rental on it has one version on one side and the other version on the other, along with a mini-documentary talking about it. Pretty cool.

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

I have seen it (hell, I own it) and I know that the screenwriter's father was somehow tied up in the actual water scandal you see fictionalized in the film.

(I assume you mean the Bogart version of The Big Sleep and not that horrible Robert Mitchum one)

It certainly owes a lot to Chandler's "everybody's dirty" and "the rich are different - more screwed up" plots you get in a lot of his fiction. And the hero doesn't so much triumph in the end as survive (I'm thinking Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

No, not Mitchum. Definitely Bogart and Bacall.

It does carry a huge number of Noir tropes, yes. I did know it was pseudo-based on real events, though I didn't realize the screenwriter was related to them. I do wish there were an alternate universe in which Polanski hadn't been slime and the trilogy had actually been made. I think I now have to see The Two Jakes at some point just to see how much of a mess it is.

[knowmad.livejournal.com]

Oy, I've seen it, but it's been a while. I definitely DO NOT recommend the sequel.

For noir, my favorites in the classic sense are probably Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon. If you haven't seen those, rent, rent, rent!

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

The thing that stood out for me was how the protagonist is almost always wrong, barely muddling through. He talks a good game, but he really oblivious to the real story until it almost kills him; I could identify with him much more than the usual wrap-it-up-by-the-third-reel kind.

[fortinbras16.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Gittes is definitely mostly mouth and attitude. You get the feeling that since he's left the force, he hasn't had any thing resembling a case that required more than talking to a client, and staking out a house for a bit (or sending someone else to do it). Of course, he clearly liked things that way.