Chinatown

Although Chinatown is considered to be a noir film, it does break some rules of film noir-like not being in black and white but in color. It is a great murder/mystery that contains some elements of a film noir genre - the protagonist, a detective or investigator who usually portrayed as a greedy loner; a beautiful sensual femme fatale who will use her charm to seduce the protagonist, a plot that usually deals with the dark aspects of humanity-greed, murder, deceit and paranoia, low key lighting, and shadows. Chinatown is a movie about a hot temper PI seeking the truth and a nervous sexy femme fatale with an unusually background. It will tell one plot but suddenly splits into two double-plot; that of the water plot and the incest plot. Although seemingly different at first glance, both plots are in truth related to each other, deceit, murder and greed. The movie will have shadows and some dark and light contrasts. The low key lighting tends to keep some of the scenes dark and gloomy especially in the night scenes. The daytime scenes had a brown and washed out-yellows tint to look like a golden tone this was so that is wouldn’t look so bright from the sun. Although Chinatown may not have the voice over narrator, the story is told through a former LAPD now P.I. named Jake Gittes. Who will investigate a famous cheating husband. Meets the femme fatale Evelyn Mulwray, but she is not your typical femme fatale; she is insecure, nervous, and she holds a secret and turns out to be the lone character with pure motive. Chinatown is a movie that you would want to see again and again. You will be shocked and surprised.

Work Citied

Cordaiy, Hunter. "Through a lens, darkly: teaching CHINATOWN." Screen Education 54 (2009): 119-124. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Apr. 2011.

Johnson, Brian D. "'Chinatown' comes back to haunt him." Maclean's 122.40 (2009): 117. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Apr. 2011.

McGinnis, Wayne D. "Chinatown: Roman Polanski's Contemporary Oedipus Story." Literature Film Quarterly 3.3 (1975): 249. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 23 Apr. 2011.

Novak, Phillip. "The Chinatown Syndrome. (Cover story)." Criticism 49.3 (2007): 255-283. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Apr. 2011

Palmer, R. Barton. "Chinatown and the Detective Story." Literature Film Quarterly 5.2 (1977): 112. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Apr. 2011.