Chinatown Post

• 1.  PLOT:  As I was reminded this time I watched it, the movie's plot is pretty sprawling and confounding.  In a word, it's about water.  But, let's get into some questions to ensure you have a firm grasp of what actually happened:
• a.  Just briefly explain who the following people were:
• Hollis Mulwray -- head engineer of the Department of Water and Power, married to Evelyn Mulwray but having an affair, used to work with Evelyn's father Noah Cross, murdered by Cross
• Evelyn Mulwray -- wife of Hollis Mulwray, mother/sister of Katherine
• Noah Cross -- father of Evelyn, father of Katherine, big water works tycoon who worked alongside Hollis for a time before killing him
• Lt. Escobar -- used to work alongside Gittes, arrests him in the end and doesn't believe the extent of what Gittes is uncovering about the Mulwray/Cross family and murder
• Katherine -- daughter/sister of Evelyn, having affair with Hollis
• b.  Did you understand the setting?  What year is it?  Set in LA in 1937
• c.  Did you understand what Mulwray found out about Noah Cross?  What was this whole "water" issue all about? I didn't really understand this until now -- I knew Cross was involved in some fraudulent activity; Cross and his water department were drying up the land in the reservoir so that it could be bought at a reduced price. The "water" issue was about a drought ravaging LA when, in actuality, there was water but it was being diverted from the reservoir intentionally by the water department for their own monetary gain. 
• d.  Did you understand the reveal about Katherine?  Who exactly is she to Evelyn and Noah Cross?  Cross raped Evelyn, his daughter, so Katherine is the daughter and sister of Evelyn. Evelyn has basically kept her hidden ever since she reconnected with her.
• e.  What questions do you still have that are unresolved in you?  This is a confusing movie, so do you still need any questions answered?  Pose that here. Why did Ida Sessions pretend to be Evelyn Mulwray, and why did she turn up dead? Also, why did Gittes continue the investigation on Hollis by trying to figure out the cause of his death? Was it more of a personal commitment to follow his curiosity, or did Evelyn actually end up paying him to figure it all out?
• 2.  MESSAGING: 
• a.  What you YOU think this movie was ultimately about?  What was it trying to say?  What were some of the interesting ideas on its mind?  I think this movie was about the complexity of a money-hungry powerful businessman and the impact that this greed and crime had on his family, his business partner, and the city. It was trying to comment on the complicated interconnectedness of the powerful/wealthy/well-known people in the city and how messy the relationships and lies and history between them all were. An interesting idea was how Gittes was a matrimonial investigator but ended up working on a case that was more full-blown than he anticipated, and how he wasn't really hired to continue doing the search but he did anyway. Also, there was the whole mess of business/personal relationships between all the main characters: Evelyn, Gittes, Cross, Hollis, and Katherine. 
• b.  In the movie, "Chinatown" (the location where Jake worked when he was a police officer in years past) is clearly a symbol.  The movie end with "Forget it, Jake; it's Chinatown."  Well, what's that mean?  What's Chinatown symbolize?  How might this connect to what the movie might be trying to say?  Chinatown is the location of Jake's case from far in the past when he worked with Escobar where something went terribly wrong and haunted him for the rest of his career. By returning to Chinatown at the end of the movie when the most calamitous events of the film take place (Evelyn killed, Katherine taken by Cross, Cross getting away free), it mirrors the terrible event that must have taken place in Chinatown involving Gittes long ago. When we hear the last line telling him to forget it because "it's Chinatown," it adds to that irreverence that seems to be pretty integral to the film noir, Jack Nicholson-style movie. With the brooding jazz music playing in the background and the slow zoom-out of the street in Chinatown where Evelyn has just been shot in front of everyone, the "whaddaya expect, it's Chinatown" attitude sort of amplifies the eeriness and the loneliness of the movie, and of Gittes. I think this line emphasizes the tone of the movie. 
• 3.  MESSAGING:  
• Because we all watched Citizen Kane, and because both Chinatown and Citizen Kane are 2 of the most highly rated American films of all time (Chinatown ranks #19 on AFI's top 100 American films of all time), let’s spend some time comparing the MESSAGING in them. 
• Write a PARAGRAPH comparing Chinatown to Citizen Kane.  Consider all the these movies have to say, like:
• How are the movies similar/different in their messages about LOVE, CAREER, MASCULINITY/FEMININITY, SUCCESS/FAILURE, etc.?  (What other topics do both films seem to speak to?)
• Both films generally avoid talking DIRECTLY about America, but how are both films similar/different in how they make comments about America/American culture?
• What interesting/compelling similarities can you perceptively point out to us?

Clearly, both deal with the messy connections between personal relationships and business/professional relationships. Kane is looking for more and more power, wealth, and recognition by running for mayor and essentially taking over the city as his own; Cross is looking to get more money by illegally allowing his water department to divert the water from the reservoir so that the land will be dry (causing a city drought) and ready for sale at a lower price, deceiving his business partner. Both of them cast aside personal relationships for the sake of power: Kane essentially discards LeLand and forced Susan to do opera -- which she hated and was ridiculed for -- for the sake of building his own opera house and making even more famous his name; Cross kills his partner Hollis when Hollis figures out Cross's plan. Both men also show a complete disregard for female worth and respect. As I said, Kane disregarded Susan's pleas to allow her to stop with the opera performances and made it clear that his power and reputation were more important than her happiness and sanity. Cross, on the other hand, had an incestuous relationship with his partner's wife, HIS DAUGHTER. Clearly he's a sick man in addition to being power-hungry and merciless. Citizen Kane comments on the necessity of love to be a reasonable, lovable person; Kane was deprived of love in his childhood after his parents got rid of him, and from then-on was never able to have good relationships with women and with friends because he had no concept of what it meant to love someone. In Chinatown, I think a big theme was the loneliness that Jake feels, even when he's with Evelyn or with his partners/officemates on the job, bringing up that same idea that love is what he needs and desires on some level but is also what he's unable to have because of his profession and his personality.

• 4.  SCENE ANALYSIS #1: (Instead of you choosing, I'm choosing!)
• Jake tracking Mulwray:  Rewatch the following scene.  Consider all the important cinematic choices utilized here: 
• As always, really think about what the filmmakers MOST wanted to accomplish in this scene, and how they used specific choices in lighting, shots, angles, composition, moving camera, editing, sound, score, VFX, etc. to create the impression they wanted.  
• HERE'S THE LINK: WATCH!
• After you watch, write a thoughtful paragraph analyzing some of the techniques and tools that seemed impactful to accomplishing the filmmakers' purposes in this scene.
• Initially as Gittes is driving, we see a continuous shot over Gittes's shoulder. This establishes a sneaky feeling, like we're scoping out a situation that we're not supposed to be involved in -- which is essentially what is happening. Then there's a neat extreme closeup on the side mirror of Nicholson’s car showing Hollis acting shifty and walking down to the beach. This is a really artistic way to reflect (literally) the spying nature of the scene and the fact that we're trying to hide from view and be inconspicuous alongside Gittes. It reflects a long shot, further establishing that we can't get to close because Gittes has to be cunning with this. As Hollis walks down to the reservoir and Gittes follows him, there's a slightly shaky handheld camera; this makes more visceral and raw the idea that we're spying and seeing something we're not supposed to see. There's also high contrast lighting on Mulwray's face as the water shoots out. It feels ominous, but we're not sure why quite yet. What we don't know at the time is that this diversion of the water is what clues him into Cross's plan that Cross is trying to keep from Hollis; this discovery is ultimately what causes Cross to kill him, so it makes sense that Hollis's watching the water shoot out is a creepy, unsettling moment.
• 5.  SCENE ANALYSIS #2: 
• The End: Rewatch the following scene.  Consider all the important cinematic choices utilized here: 
• As always, really think about what the filmmakers MOST wanted to accomplish in this scene, and how they used specific choices in lighting, shots, angles, composition, moving camera, editing, sound, score, VFX, etc. to create the impression they wanted.  
• HERE'S THE LINK: WATCH!
• After you watch, write a thoughtful paragraph analyzing some of the techniques and tools that seemed impactful to accomplishing the filmmakers' purposes in this scene

Once they all run to the car and find Evelyn dead, it pretty much is made up of one continuous shot. When Gittes looks down at Evelyn and then up, there is plenty of eye room before the camera pans to show us what he's looking at: Cross with his arm around Katherine. This slightly shaky, continuous shot adds a rawness to the scene, like we can't escape the extremely upsetting reality of what just happened. It's also very striking when the camera slowly zooms out and lifts like a crane shot for what feels like a very long time at the end, just before the credits start rolling. I think it lets the viewer internalize that last line: "forget it, Jake; it's Chinatown" and reflect on how it sets the tone of the movie. I said something similar in a previous question about the last line. 

• 6.  Do a quick google search on Roman Polanski, the director.  If you saw "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," you know some of the story of Roman Polanski's life.  He also grew up in the holocaust in Poland.  And then there's the controversy involving the rape accusation of a 13-year-old girl.  He fled to France in the '70s and has been there since.  Some people boycott his films.  
• a.  First, read a little bit of THIS ARTICLE.  What do you think of the Polanski controversy?  Should his films be boycotted?  I think it's very likely that the accusations are true, given what we have seen recently with the extent of Hollywood men exerting their power and influence over women to take advantage of them. In terms of boycotting his films, I struggle with this. Typically, if I'm repulsed by the person making whatever media I have the choice to receive, I have trouble watching/listening to it. The first name that comes to mind is Michael Jackson; I used to love his music, but now I just feel the creepy crawlies when I listen to it, and I just do not feel right paying his estate any money for his music. I understand the idea of trying to set apart the creator and the creation, though, especially if their creation is so renowned and celebrated, like Polanski's movies or Jackson's music. Still, I think that the creators put so much of themselves into their work that sometimes it's impossible to separate the two. 
• b.  While it's sometimes problematic to apply what you know about an author's life to a piece of art, knowing a little about Pulanski's life might help us make sense of Chinatown.  Do you see any messaging or ideas in Chinatown that could be a result of some of the things you have learned about his life/experiences?  I can definitely see a parallel between the death of his wife, Sharon Tate, and the death of Evelyn. Both of these women were very well liked, Sharon because she was seen as a very fun and sweet woman and Evelyn because she had a very traumatic history and was trying to get by and move on, and both were murdered with aimless intent. I think Sharon's tragic, untimely, sudden death is paralleled in that of Evelyn's. 
• 7.  Watch THIS LINK to a video analysis of some why (supposedly) Chinatown is the best screenplay ever (according to the guy who made the video).  After you watch, answer these two questions:
• a.  What is something in the video that is a NEW IDEA to you, but you ABSOLUTELY AGREE WITH?  Explain. I really like his idea that the whole point of the movie is to figure out what question is being asked. I really wondered this because I couldn't figure out what Gittes was doing since he was a marriage investigator and he realized that he was set up to investigate Hollis's affair. Once his case was published, the affair was exposed, and he realized he was set up, I thought he would drop the whole thing and move on to another client. Instead, he finds himself in a web of other mysteries, many of which deal with the same people: Evelyn, Hollis, Cross, and Katherine. Is he searching for the girl? Is he trying to figure out how Hollis died? Is he doing this to give Evelyn peace of mind, or is it for his own curiosity? Is he suspicious of Cross, or does he encounter him incidentally? All of this was set up in the beginning of the movie, and all the clues were there; it was just a matter of piecing together each interaction with the little bits of evidence from the beginning that were overlooked to figure out each of the smaller subplots throughout the movie. 
• b.  What is something in the video that you think goes TOO FAR; that you DON'T NECESSARILY AGREE WITH?  Explain. The video talks about how Gittes really changes as a character after meeting Evelyn. He says Gittes really opens up to Evelyn, implying that he's willing to be vulnerable and tell her about himself. He didn't really do anything of the sort. He was always suspicious of her, including when he followed her to Katherine in that house even after she begged him to stay there until she got back. He was always trying to reserve the upper hand, even in the more intimate moments of the movie. I think this stems from Gittes's core character trait of being a loner. The video implies that he began as a total and complete loner but changed the more he grew to care for Evelyn. I think he was always a loner, through and through, and that this was emphasized in the very end of the movie when he realizes he has to "forget it" because "it's Chinatown." His life will always have a gloomy undertone to it, and he will always stand out as the thoughtful loner, in part because of his profession and in part because of his personality. 
• 8.  Hey, you just wrote a whole post about '70s American New Wave films last week.  So, I need to ask you, how does/doesn't Chinatown embrace characteristics of '70s "New Hollywood" films.  Does it?  Or, doesn't it very much?  Explain.  Clearly, it's a NOIR film (in some ways), but does it have '70s "new wave" elements to it?  How so?  Or not?  I think this film definitely has a New Wave component in that the leading man, Jake Gittes, is a suave, good-looking, and finds a way to command the space he's in by being nonchalant. This type of character definitely showed up in Easy Rider -- that "cool guy" loner persona. There's also the aspect of sexual freedom for the characters that showed up in this film, too, because Evelyn talked about her many affairs that she then cast aside. 
• 9.  So, overall, what'd you think?  What haven't you said yet that you want to say about your experience watching this movie?  Give us some context.  Was this your first time; third?  What parts did you appreciate?  Stand out?  What didn't you enjoy or appreciate?  Mention a couple important specifics and details; avoid being vague and generalizing!   Also, if you found any great "Chinatown"-related videos or articles online, feel free to share here. 
• I liked the movie because of the acting of the two main characters, Jake and Evelyn, as well as the slow-moving plot. I tend to like movies that take their time, and a more modern example of this would be Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. This was my first time seeing Chinatown, and while I enjoyed it, I do think it's a tricky movie to try and analyze after the first watch; there's so many moving parts. I did really like the ending where the camera focused on Gittes's face frozen in this sort of grimace. This was in part a cinematography choice and also really good, subtle acting on Nicholson's part. I liked how the shaky camera made it feel more raw, like I said before, but I also really like how Nicholson had this unwavering stare at Evelyn, with a clenched jaw and disbelieving eyes. You can tell that he's unable to process what he sees at the same time that he's having a flashback to the last calamity that he was involved in in Chinatown. I also liked the part where Gittes is getting shaved and stands up to defend his profession. This was a moment where Gittes lost his cool, I guess you could say, which he rarely does in the movie. I also think it reveals something about his character -- maybe he has himself questioned whether its a fair profession and whether he toes the line of being a publicity sellout when he uncovers these extramarital affairs. I also found a good article that analyzes what makes Jack Nicholson's film noir leading man stand out from Humphrey Bogart's: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-chinatown-1974
• 10.  Finally, what's good a discussion question can you pose to OTHER STUDENTS about this film, to get a deeper discussion going?  Can you ask a good question that can generate some discussion?  POSE THAT QUESTION HERE! 
• What do you think was the point of the man with the knife (actually Roman Polanski) cutting open Gittes's nose? It became a plot point that was referenced throughout the rest of the movie, and the makeup crew had to bother with doing the makeup and making it bleed and having it bandaged and acknowledged for the whole rest of the movie. It seems so significant in the movie that I'm wondering what you think the point/significance of this injury is.