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Claude Mulvihill could also be a major subplot character. His confrontation with Gittes leads to Gittes getting his nose slashed.
Ida Sessions, the woman who was hired to play Evelyn in the beginning of the film, would be considered a supporting character in Chinatown. She does not play a major role in the narrative, but she is there at key moments (it is her clues, for example, that allow Gittes to pursue the water scandal.) Walsh and Duffy, Gittes's partners, are also "helping characters" in this respect.
Part Four
With a film as complex in its plot as Chinatown, it certainly helps to reconstruct events chronologically when evaluating the plot of the movie.
As Chinatown is essentially a detective movie, there are numerous clues dropped throughout the movie that the viewer is expected to pick up on and draw inferences out of. One example is the fact that Gittes, who is obviously doing well for himself, was not always in such a situation. In the past, he was struggling to make a living. This can be inferred from the following bit of dialogue...
Maybe you have.
Loach: Yeah, goin' through other people's dirty linen.
Gittes: Yeah. Tell me. You still puttin' Chinamen in jail for spittin' in the laundry?
Escobar: You're a little behind the times, Jake. They use steam irons now. And I'm out of Chinatown.
Gittes: Since when?
Escobar: Since I made Lieutenant.
Gittes: Congratulations.
Another example is the death of Mulwray. While his death is initially deemed to be "accidental," it is obvious to anyone who has watched film up to this point that he was most likely the victim of foul play, owing to his mysterious activities.
The "concealed" story is key to a mystery film like Chinatown. While there are various hints as to what is really going on that are revealed throughout the film, nothing is ever revealed outright. Rather, the viewer must work, alongside the detective protagonist, to put the bits and pieces together until they form a coherent whole. For this reason, Chinatown is a movie that one can watch over and over again.
Chinatown and Film Noir The influence of classic film noir on Chinatown Rising to prominence in the late 1940s and initially described as "murder with a psychological twist," film noir helped to introduce audiences to a new genre that could be distinguished by its subject matter, themes, and stylistic trademarks (Spicer 1). Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanksi and starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston, helped to redefine the genre while
Chinatown and The Pianist both exemplify Roman Polanski’s directorial style. However, they are vastly different films. An exploration of each, in comparison with one another, illustrates Polanski’s predilections as a filmmaker and possible also as an auteur. The 1974 film Chinatown bears a dark and gritty stamp that exemplifies in many ways the zeitgeist of the era. Building on the tradition of film noir and its romantic depictions of criminal
Big Sleep and Chinatown: Depictions of Noir in Hollywood Film noir rose to prominence in the late 1940s and was initially described as "murder with a psychological twist" (Spicer, 1). Film noir helped to introduce audiences to a new genre that had distinct trademarks and themes. The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawkes and based upon the eponymous Raymond Chandler novel, helped to cement and define the genre. Similarly, Chinatown,
Their methods, however -- regicide, then more murders to cover up the first one, and finally a desperate civil war in an attempt to kill the throne -- are not exactly worthy of nobility. All prophecies are eventually fulfilled; though Macbeth reigns as king, his line ends with him. Are Shakespeare's witches symbolic or real? Though tempting to interpret the witches as a sort of symbolic force, there can be little
Chinatown: A convergence of fraud, murder, and incest Chinatown is the 1974 film noir directed by Roman Polanski. A modernized interpretation of classic film noir, Chinatown stars Jack Nicholson as J.J. Gittes, a Los Angeles private detective, Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Mulwray, a victim of incest and daughter of one of Los Angeles' most powerful men, and John Huston as Noah Cross, a corrupt business man and Evelyn's father. Chinatown, though
Noah Cross from Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" provides the audience with a layer of complexity unseen in other films. On the surface, Noah Cross seems to the unaware soul as a jovial, pleasant man. When one hears him speak he appears untroubled and comfortable in his own skin. His facial expressions also give a hint of self-assurance and openness as he remains friendly-seeming no matter what words come out of