My Review: Chinatown (10/10)

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but, believe me, you don't."

Sometimes things are bigger than ourselves, and despite how much we think we can change the world eventually we are brought down to our reality: we are much smaller than we think we are and there is little we can do against the big corporate giants. That is the main theme that director, Roman Polanski, is trying to explore here in this criminal film noir thriller starring Jack Nicholson as a wise and overly confident private detective who is about to learn that despite how much he wants to teach the bad guys a lesson perhaps things are a little out of his league. That is why the film is titled Chinatown, because it represents a time in Jake's (Nicholson's character) life where he wasn't able to make a difference in the police force and became cynical towards the world. "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" is what they told him, and that is why he decided to retire and become a private investigator working on his own. He doesn't want to forget it, he wants to catch the bad guys and balance things out. He doesn't want these rich executives to continue thinking they can get away with anything. That is exactly why he decides to investigate things on his own and begins to enter dangerous territory where not everyone is who they say they are. He slowly begins to uncover one lie after another, and that is what makes Chinatown such an entertaining and masterful thriller. We are part of the investigation and begin discovering things at the same time Jake does. We are as confident as he is that he is going to uncover everything. This is Jack Nicholson's movie from the opening scene and he delivers one of his best performances to date. Faye Dunaway is also interesting in her femme fatale role; we are never sure if we can trust her or not. Polanski has delivered a perfect homage to the 40's film noir thrillers. Chinatown will remain as one of the best classical films of all time. This is my favorite Polanski film, perfect in every way.

Jake Gittes seems to be doing well as a private detective in Los Angeles, since he specializes in infidelities and there are many in the city. His latest assignment is to follow Evelyn Mulwray's (Diane Ladd) husband who happens to be the builder of the city's water supply system. His name is Hollis (Darrell Zwerling) and he is fascinated with everything that has to do with water, but Evelyn is convinced he is having an affair. Jake accepts the job and begins following Hollis, and surely enough he photographs him with a younger woman causing a scandal in the city. Jake believes his job is done, until a Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) comes thundering into his office claiming that she had never hired him to follow her husband. Apparently the first woman claiming to be Mrs. Mulwray was only an impersonator and now Jake has a law suit in his hands. Surprisingly Mrs. Mulwray drops the law suit a few days later, and her husband is found dead after an apparent suicide. Jake is now hired by Mrs. Mulwray to discover who might have wanted her husband dead, and soon Jake will find himself uncovering an entire web of deceit and corruption that is much bigger than he thinks.

This masterful film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only won one (Best Original Screenplay written by Robert Towne) considering it had to compete in 1975 with another perfect film: The Godfather Part II. One of the best things about Chinatown actually is the screenplay. There are so many great dialogues and quotes from this film that are still remembered today almost 40 years later. Chinatown is exactly what a classical film looks like. Polanski created a masterpiece by recreating the classic film noir from the 40's with great art direction, costume designs, and cinematography. The editing and the original score are also done wonderfully, but none of this would be enough if it weren't for the wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Chinatown deserves all the praise it has received over time and it has really turned into a timeless classic and one of the few that continues to astonish modern audiences. The twists and surprises in Chinatown continue to work today.

My Review: Carnage (6/10)

¨A new comedy of no manners.¨

Roman Polanski is a great director, there is no denying his trajectory (Rosemary`s Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist), and his latest film, The Ghost Writer, was amongst my favorite movies of last year, but Carnage was a bit of a disappointment for me. Perhaps I was expecting more going into this movie considering Polanski was directing it and knowing it had a spectacular cast: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz. Carnage was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be, but it still isn`t a bad movie. It has some witty dialogues, several funny scenes, and of course great performances. There is nothing wrong with the cast; they all did a great job with their characters and Jodie Foster should receive an Oscar nomination for her role; the problem I had was mainly with the story. It takes place entirely in an apartment building and the conversations made me feel so awkward and unsteady that I couldn`t wait for the couple to leave the room. They seem to continue going on in circles criticizing one another, while slowly escalating their tones. Of course there are several really funny moments and John C. Reilly steals most laughs, but the film just felt too simplistic. Another problem I had with it was the length; it lasts less than 80 minutes. I suspect Carnage worked much better in the theater since it was based on the play written by Yasmina Reza (The God of Carnage), but it just didn’t translate really well in the big screen. Reza and Polanski both worked in the adaptation of the script. Carnage is a funny, simple movie, but not very memorable.

The premise of the movie is pretty simple. We have two couples that decide to meet at their New York apartment after their kids had a big fight and one of them lost two teeth in the process. On the one hand we have Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) Longstreet who`s child (Ethan) was the victim, and on the other we have Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan Cowan (Christoph Waltz) who`s child (Zachary) was responsible for beating the other with a stick. At first they decide to meet cordially and try to solve the issue in a friendly matter, but the tone begins to escalate after Penelope asks the Cowan`s if they could bring Zachary over to apologize for the incident. Nancy says she could bring her son over, but Alan has no intention of coming back since he sees the entire issue pointless. All he cares for is getting back to work and that is why he is constantly on the phone. Penelope on the other hand wants to solve the issue peacefully, but she is more of an idealist than a realist. The entire conversation begins to heat up and after a couple of drinks the violent words begin to cross from one point of the room to the other. The entire movie takes place inside this apartment, although in the beginning we get to see the incident between the kids in the park from afar.

Carnage is a movie that points out human behavior. While we`re kids we seem to have no trouble at expressing our feelings and emotions. Kids fight all the time. When we grow up and become adults it seems like we leave those child ways behind; or at least we try to contain our emotions and we put on our masks to act like everything is fine. That is the case with both couples in the movie. They meet in order to solve a conflict that began with their kids, but they blow it way out of proportions after their own masks become falling off. Adults can be violent as well, perhaps they won`t grab a stick and hit someone in the face, but they do curse at each other and begin a verbal war. Carnage is a verbal war that begins cordial and ends with violent outbursts and infantile behavior. We try to act like adults, but when we reach our boiling point we end up acting worse than the kids. Perhaps the only character that never wears a mask in Carnage is Alan who always shows his disinterest in the entire situation. At times I felt the same way he did towards the movie, but I did enjoy the witty dialogue at others. All these characters were really unlikeable people and as the minutes went by they just got worse. The performances were really great despite the fact that we could care less for the characters. Carnage isn’t a bad movie, it`s funny, but it won`t rank among Polanski`s best work. If you’re a fan of him or any of these actors than you might want to check this movie out.

  

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My Review: The Ghost Writer (9/10)

¨Oh yes, the wall of ego. We all have one, our equivalent of the dentist's fish tank. ¨

The Ghost Writer is an excellent thriller that works mainly because Roman Polanski is at the helm of the project. I don`t think this story would have been so gripping or suspenseful if it was put in any other director`s hands, but Polanski has such a fatalistic view of the world that he knows how to create these dark and tense situations and combines them with the right amount of black humor and paranoia. The performance from the cast was also an important ingredient to the success of this film with Ewan McGregor giving a terrific performance, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson also delivering in the supporting roles. The similarities between Brosnan`s character with real life British former prime minister, Tony Blair, can`t be ignored, even more so considering that Polanski`s adapted screenplay was based on Robert Harris`s (a former BBC reporter and political columnist) book The Ghost, which was written shortly after Blair resigned from office. This is Polanski`s first film in 5 years as a director, and only his second one since 2002 when he won the Oscar for The Pianist.  Polanski proves once again why he ranks amongst the best directors in the world showing he is a true master in the craft, creating suspense from the very opening scene, maintaining our full attention throughout the film, and creating several unexpected twists.

The movie opens with a dark scene as a ferry is disembarking on a cold night and one car is left behind with the owner of the vehicle nowhere to be found. The next morning a body is found washed up in the beach and it happens to be that of a ghostwriter who was writing the memoirs for the British former Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). It seemed to be an apparent suicide or accident since there was a high amount of alcohol level in his blood, and the memoir didn`t seem to be going very well. A new ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to try to finish the memoir even though he knows nothing of politics, but the paycheck seems worth it. He travels to the United States where Adam is located for a month and begins interviewing him in order to try to bring some heart to the memoir which according to him was ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ and there was a lot of work to be done.  A lot of suspicious events begin to lead the ghost to do more researching. First of all there is the over protectiveness of the original memoir which can never leave the room and is always locked away in a cabin by Lang`s assistant Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), then there is the issue that Lang is being accused of crime wars by a former British minister, and Lang`s wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) is jealous of her husband`s relationship with Amelia. The ghost begins to investigate some of his predecessor`s findings and after a few interviews with some locals discovers that his death might not have been accidental after all. As the ghost gets deeper in his investigation, his life begins to be threatened.

The film is very well crafted by Polanski who does a great job at creating the right mood for a suspenseful political thriller such as this one. I think that any other director could have turned this film into ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ but Polanski is a master at what he does and was able to combine suspense, thrills, and twists into this film converting it into a successful movie. Ewan McGregor`s character is probably the key to the entire movie as his investigation of the case serves to inform us about what is going on. We are discovering new things about Lang`s life along with him, and we feel completely lost alongside him wondering what is going to happen next.  We can identify and feel the paranoia with him as more and more mysteries become unraveled and his life begins to be threatened. Another key element is Tom Wilkinson`s small role in this film as Paul Emmett, a Harvard graduate that seems to play an important role in Lang`s life although he denies it. Wilkinson is such a great actor and he always adds so much with his performances. He isn`t on screen very much, but those few minutes are memorable nonetheless. McGregor isn`t left behind and he does a great job in the lead role playing one of his best roles in recent memory, as does Pierce Brosnan. Overall this is a great movie and I highly recommend this as one of the year`s best thrillers.

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