Chinatown

Jack Nicholson (J.J. Gittes) and Faye Dunaway (Evelyn Mulwray) star in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown. It opens with slow jazz music and subtle colored screen, yet the movie is definitely slow or serene. Gittes, a private detective, lives in Los Angeles during a major water drought. He is hired by Mrs. Mulwray, a rice wealthy woman, to investigate Hollis’, her husband who is the orchestrator of the city’s water supply, possible love affair. As he starts the case, Gittes tails him and realizes Hollis, although has a somewhat odd obsession with water, is a decent man. The case is more complex as he realizes because there is an illegal water conspiracy. Despite the desperate need for water during the drought, clean usable water was being flushed away at nighttime. Before he can ask Water and Power Department questions, Hollis’ body is found in the water reserve. This points the investigation toward Mrs. Mulwray and Hollis’ co-workers. As Gittes digs deeper into Hollis’ life, he discovers that “Mrs. Mulwray” was not even his wife, the impersonator was hired to hire Gittes. The real Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, a younger and flightier woman, is reluctant to join investigative forces with Gittes. However, Gittes uses his wit to research Hollis’ previous co-business partner, Noah Cross. Throughout the complicated situations between the city’s expensive water scandal, Hollis’ death mystery, and the fishy Evelyn, Gittes continually gets himself into trouble. Like the rest of the story, life is not as it seems because the truth is buried. What lies beneath is shocking and outrageous.