Chinatown is a highly appreciated 1974 revision of 1940’s film noir detective movies. It adds its own 70’s spin on the hardboiled detective genre by using mild nudity, gruesome blood spurts, and tweaks to archetypal character types. However, one big difference in this film compared to those in the 1940’s, is the addition of colleagues for our detective hero, J.J. ‘Jake’ Gittes. In previous films, our detective hero is normally seen working alone with the rare exception of a secretary at their disposal such as Effie Perine in The Maltese Falcon for example. Then, our detective hero discovers crucial clues first hand along the duration of the film. But Chinatown also changes and adds to that dynamic with the introduction of two characters; Lawrence Walsh (Joe Mantell) and Duffy (Bruce Glover). These two characters plus the inclusion of Jake’s secretary, Sophie (Nandu Hinds), make Chinatown’s detective agency seem like more of an actual business than previous movie portrayals. Walsh is an older man adored with glasses who is working as an operative of Jake’s. He’s one of the more thorough and cautious of the three men. This normally leads to Walsh catching details and bits of information that Jake misses throughout the film. This exchange of information is an excellent way …show more content…
But Chinatown takes many pauses between discussions and stretches out the length of scenes to give off a more realistic experience. This is why Walsh’s addition to the cast is incredibly useful and somewhat necessary for the tempo of the film. He helps discover critical clues while Jake is following another lead or doing his own recon work. One of the crucial clues that Walsh presents very early on in the film doesn’t even seem useful until the later half of
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
with all the iconography, as outlined by film theorist McArthur, such as the physical appearance of the characters, the urban environment in which the fiction is played out, and the technology at the characters? disposal; principally the guns and cars. But the physical threat comes in the form of Ghost Dog and not the ageing Mafia, the genre of Gangster seems to be the backdrop for a story of higher morals and greater levels of fate. The way of the Samurai is brought in terms of comparison with today?s society and exposes the gangsters as frauds when it comes to living by methods of violence.
The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.
As the camera cuts away from the room where Xiao Yun’s mourners grieve in solemn silence, it returns to the skyscraper featured early in the film. The camera tilts gently upward, directing its gaze higher and higher as more of the skyscraper comes into view. The film, its exposure of proletarian suffering complete, arises from the slums and returns its gaze to the higher levels of society – to the bourgeois audience itself. Street Angel has explored the hardships of proletarian life with contagious sympathy, melodramatically criticizing the capitalism that defined 1930s Shanghai. Now, Yuan asks his audience whether it will join him in challenging the injustices engendered by this economic
When one thinks of a gangster they may think of speakeasies and classy cars or maybe drive-bys, but they will always imagine a man who is not afraid to get his hands dirty to grasp for a higher place on the social ladder. They will think of a man portrayed in a genre of cinema more American than any other, the gangster film. This genre began in the early thirties and has been re-adapted each decade to fit a new time. Although gangster films may mold themselves to fit into a certain cultural era, they still stay deeply tied to the foundations of the genre and its historical relevance to the american dream. This is apparent when comparing the differences and similarities between The Public Enemy and American Gangster. To better understand this comparison one needs to understand the origination of some of the classic conventions of the gangster film genre.
Did everyone has taken a moment to imagine which neighborhood that you like to live? The Chinatown neighborhood of Chicago is one of the historic neighborhoods. According to Harry Kiang’s Chicago’s Chinatown, “In 1890, 25 percent of the city's 600 Chinese lived along Clark between Van Buren and Harrison Streets, in an area called the Loop’s Chinatown. After 1910 Chinese from the Loop moved to a new area near Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue, mainly for cheaper rent” (Encyclopedia of Chicago). The Chicago has two Chinatowns at the Southern part of the Chicago. Thus we can know that the old Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood is called the Loop’s Chinatown and located at Clark between Van Buren and Harrison Streets; the new Chicago’s Chinatown located
Classic film noir originated after World War II. This is the time where post World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion was taking the world by storm. Many films that were released in the U.S. Between 1939s and 1940s were considered propaganda films that were designed for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s many German and Europeans immigrated to the U.S. and helped the American film industry with powerf...
Chang portrays the complexity of Henry’s character by showing the conflict that he faces both in his personal and professional life. His confusion towards his own Cultural identity is noticed in his relationships with his co-workers as well as with his family. His personal relationship with his family, especially with his father and his wife exemplifies the clash between the two cultures which seems to tear Henry apart. Leila, Henry’s wife, seems to epitomize the traditional American Culture which Henry tries very hard to be a part of. Her forthright nature along with the independence and individuality contradicts the stereotypical qualities of an Asian wife. However, Henry’s desperation is seen in his forgiving attitude towards Leila’s action and behavior. His deter...
Adapted from the novella written by James M. Cain, Double Indemnity is a melodramatic film noir that highlights the conflict its characters face through adultery and murder which develops from the dissatisfaction and alienation that arose in the era of modernity as shown in most noir films. Unlike most noir films, Double Indemnity set the bar in terms of structural themes to follow and elements that eventually came to be considered essential in the noir genre. The film was seen to be a full embodiment of what the genre should be. Double Indemnity is an archetypal noir film, which portrays noir elements through its style, the characters, its writers’ backstory and the history of Los Angeles, the city in which it is set. This essay will examine how Los Angeles is integrated not only into the location but also into the storyline of the characters and their motivations but also the filmmakers’ lives. It does this through characteristic noir motifs like “the urban cultural landscape, the lack of rootedness of the characters, and the self-deceptions that center their world” (p. 437) affect the protagonists in the film. Double Indemnity’s use of Los Angeles as its primary location exposes the innate decadence and decay of the city through film noir stylistic elements. Billy Wilder directed Double Indemnity and the film became the archetypal noir film because it embodied all the characteristics of a typical noir film, which include “claustrophobia, paranoia, despair and nihilism” (Place and Peterson, p. 327) course kit source. Los Angeles, the city used primarily as the location in the film becomes not merely a backdrop but a character in the film through its physical and implied characteristics. The context through the stories of Wild...
Out of some of the most turbulent times in history have come the greatest ages of success and prosperity. The 1920’s and 1950’s are two eras that exemplify the spirit of triumph and wealth. In both decades, a nation thrilled by the victorious conclusion of war and the return of their loved ones from war entered into an age of capitalism and materialism, bolstering the economy and with it national pride. Some of features most common to the 20’s and 50’s were consumerism and the accompanying optimistic mindset, the extent to which new ideas entered society, and discrimination in terms of both sexism and racism.
The scene from the movie Chinatown that I decided to analyze is when Jake Gittes follows in vehicle Evelyn Cross Mulwray after their conversation in to a mystery house.
The 1920s were known as carefree and relaxed. The decade after the war was one of improvement for many Americans. Industries were still standing in America; they were actually richer and more powerful than before World War I. So what was so different in the 1930’s? The Great Depression replaced those carefree years into ones of turmoil and despair.
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
The director Antoine Fuqua vision for this film was to bring that intense love-hate relationship onto the big screen and showcase it for the world to see. To ensure a convincing film setting, Fuqua shot on location in some of the most hardcore neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Fuqua also wanted to show the daily struggles of officers tasked to work in the rougher neighborhoods of cities and how easy it can be to get caught up in a street life filled with killers and drug dealers. Overall the film displayed the city of Los Angeles in a different perspective. One which m...
While there are many different ways to classify a Neo-noir film, Roman Polanski’s, Chinatown captures many. The 1974 movie consists of many of these elements, including both thematic and stylistic devices. One of the main themes of neo-noir film that is constant throughout the film is the deceptive plot that questions the viewers’ ideas and perceptions of what is actually happening in the film. Every scene of Chinatown leads to a twist or another turn that challenges the practicability of the film’s reality. All of the never-ending surprises and revelations lead up to the significant themes the movie is trying to convey in the conclusion of the film.