M.o.Mo. Club: "Chinatown"
- Thread starter Cracker Funk
- Start date
I cant remember the rules. am I allowed to vote?
If you intend to take part, absoloutely!
I think the only requirement we'll use is that you must have taken part in the previous month's discussion to make an official suggestion. But for voting, all that matters is your intent.
I ended up out of town for a decent amount of the month, finally managed to watch Chinatown again a couple of nights ago.
One of my favorite things about this movie is the physical transformation of Gittes from his shiny "Brightest suit in the room" veneer in the first scene, to his mangled, dirty, haggard, and dare I say "true colors" at the end. He once was a good man, dragged into the filth around him; he tried to gloss that over with a nice office and fancy suits, but in the end, he's still neck deep in filth. Pretty classic Noir trope, but done well in Chinatown.
Aside from that I don't think I was into it as much as I was when I first saw it the first time. It's definitely canonical noir in shot style, lighting, theme, arc, etc. Heck, you could see "Double Indemnity" all over the place; like when he is driving the convertible and the camera is positioned (OTS on Gittes as he drives) as though it were a rear-projection process shot, even though it was done at an outdoor location.
Shades of "The Big Sleep" when she is trying to pay him in the restaurant, and I could have sworn they were playing a variation on the music from Casablanca in that scene, but I don't think I was right about that.
Close enough to give one pause though.I'll try to be more timely in December
Iv decided to abstain, because I want to be COMPLETELY surprised.