In the Mood for Some L.A. Noir: Chinatown (1974)

For my Friday movie, I decided to take in a film that was recommended to me by the name of Chinatown. I was inspired to do this with all the hub-bub surrounding the release of the gumshoe detective videogame "L.A. Noire". Chinatown stars Jack Nicholson as private investigator Jake 'J.J.' Gittes with an interesting and secret history in Chinatown. Set in 1937 Los Angeles, this period piece captures the feeling of the time and place. The real question is if it's entertaining or not. Hit the jump for my impressions.


I don't want to get into the story too much since it's a mystery. The basics are that Jake Gittes is often hired to find cheating spouses, and one day yet another woman comes in asking for just such help. He takes the case, but before long it spirals into far more than he bargained for. With thugs on his case, murders showing up, and lies being thrown around, there's clearly more going on than just some infidelity.

The first thing that stuck out to me was how messed up Jack Nicholson got. Normally in most movies, if they lead gets in a fight, even if he gets punched right in the face or shot, moments later he's usually perfectly fine again. Not in Chinatown! When Jake Getti gets injured, he stays injured for the majority of the movie. The best part, is he very slowly, but visibly heals and gets better over the course of the film. It was really different, and really cool to see. It also added a real sense of vulnerability to the lead character, who usually just seems invincible in most movies.

Nice mug, Jake.

While the movie was really slowly paced, the atmosphere and overall feel of the film made it just right as far as I was concerned. Jake goes about his business finding clues and asking questions, revealing an increasingly complex story. I found the steady pace allowed me to really absorb all the plot points and clues that are revealed. While this also gave me plenty of time to speculate, and I did get pretty close to the final solution, I didn't see exactly how it was going to all go down. That's not to mention that there's actually like 2 or 3 mysteries all going on at once which was pretty great how they all overlapped in their own ways.

Jake sneaks behind police lines while on the case.

Some people might not be able to stomach the slower, deliberate pacing, but you should be able get behind the cool acting and the 30's and 40's feeling of the film. While it didn't work for me in L.A. Confidential and it just came off as fake to me in that, it worked and felt much more genuine here. My only complaint, and this is minor, is that the actual outcome and solving of the crimes seems kinda inconsequential at the end. Everything is just so mixed up and one solution just leads to more questions, the ending just wasn't that satisfying for me personally. The final line in the movie was pretty great though. "Forget about it, Jake; it's Chinatown."

If you're currently playing and enjoying "L.A. Noire" then you should definitely check this movie out. You'll probably see a lot of inspiration for the game here.