last night, i watched the movie “chinatown” with my boyfriend. i had been sitting on this movie for awhile– i never really watch movies, and im never in the mood to watch movies, so it took me some time. i first found out about this movie when i was in utterkashi halfway down a mountain sitting in a small creek coming down from the peak. i had no cell service and had downloaded a playlist related to giovanni’s room, which was the book i was reading while on my trip. then, the main theme of the movie started playing, and i felt entranced. its such a beautiful song, that if you’re reading my entry i really encourage you to listen. but imagine the nostalgic, far away sound the song already has, compared to being on the other side of the world, alone. anyway, that is why i came to watch this movie.
i’ve never watched a ‘noir’ film before, so i guess i was up for a surprise… i originally thought it was a romance-style movie with moreso detective work than crime mixed in. i got a little lost in certain scenes, as for example why faye said that someone else had hired him, the lawsuit, etc. but it eventually came to me. the movie is similar in complexity to movies like the godfather (which released only two years earlier). movies like that, for me, tell me that even if i dont fully understand the plot, the point will eventually come, ijbol…
my favorite piece of this movie was its visuals. it is such an appealing movie to the eyes– although its set in the 20s, it still gave me a feeling of the 20s but also the year it was released in. i couldn’t help but stare at the shots of the sunset everytime it came onto screen, the californian coast, and the vibrant, high class looking homes, rooms, etc (the children yearn for technicolor…). when i first found this movie i actually thought it was set in new york… thats the only chinatown i know of ｡･ﾟ(ﾟ⊃ω⊂ﾟ)ﾟ･｡ but since i haven’t yet watched any movies set in california specifically, it felt like a new lens on movies. there’s much detail put into the workings of the environments that surround the characters. even the offices of business workers, who’s lives felt real due to its detail.
besides that, i did enjoy the plot, to a certain extent… the ending frustrated me quite a bit considering the rest of the story we had gone through. i think faye is a very interesting character… sometimes, in the beginning, her lines felt very flat, so it felt hard for me to put myself in her position. overtime i got over that, the more the movie showed her on screen… i had some sympathy for her, but it was also hard to tell what she was thinking. on the other hand, i did like jake as a character. hes funny, he definitely is the posterboy of whatever a 20s businessman might be. his nose acts almost as the vessel in which his character changes over the movie. it shows the risks of his profession, but also how he can't be the all-encompassing hero he might want to be… it shows his limits as an investigator. but it doesn’t limit him on his ability to try, which i think is what eventually leads him to shooting himself in the foot and making himself wrapped up in a criminal charge, because he can’t decide how to control his case…
and yet, i wasn’t expecting the plot twist. i won’t spoil it but (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)˂̩̩ ͒) faye’s admission really broke my heart… it changed the way i saw her in the previous portion of the movie, and i suddenly had much more understanding/sympathy for her unwillingness to tell the truth. but i did really think she was the killer at first, because it felt like it made sense. but i guess i should've expected the actual outcome– with all the talk about “chinatown”.. the reality is that the title itself is a symbol for the corruption and secrets behind closed doors that continues throughout the plot. the problem is that we see everything through jake’s perspective… theres no scene outside of him, so there’s room to suspect almost everyone, because everyone has “time” off screen where they could be engaged in something else. i don’t know if im just yapping, but i hope that makes sense….
overall, i liked the movie. its not my favorite of all time, but i definitely felt a hollow place in my heart at the very end… it felt so unresolved, so pitiful, like i had just lost something myself. i did enjoy the romance portion– it always leaves me feeling some sort of way. but its definitely a movie that you might want to watch twice.
