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Some questions about Chinatown - SPOILERS

posted 9 years ago by GiaJake
4 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie again, and it only gets better and better. The parts of the puzzle fit together so well, causing me to marvel at the sheer enjoyment of such finely crafted entertainment. Three questions occurred to me after multiple viewings.

Why did Ida Sessions choose Jake to investigate her story? Was it just bad luck for Jake, or was she told to use him specifically? A key scene in SPOILERS Body Heat involves a lawyer deliberately chosen because of his mediocre reputation and past history, but I see no indication that Jake's group is incompetent. In fact, I think they are portrayed as being extremely capable. I don't remember any mention of why she hired Jake, but were they trying to set him up for some reason? It cannot be possible she just pulled his name out of a phone book, if they even existed at the time, haha.

Would the movie be as well remembered without the tragic and disturbing ending? Although the last scene was so heartbreaking, imo Polanski made the right call.

The thoughts of Katherine being in the hands of Huston at the finish was so upsetting, I never wondered until about the tenth viewing whether he was even questioned about the death of Hollis. It never even entered my mind that perhaps Huston would be arrested, and keep Katherine out of his clutches. I just assumed money would buy injustice, and Evelyn would be considered the presumed murderer of Hollis, or it would continue to be classified as a suicide or accident. Jake wouldn't have the heart or clout to demand an investigation of one of the "elite" citizens.

It's a tribute to the excellence of this movie that I find something new to ponder with each viewing.

[–] Ace_Spade 9 years ago

Mostly bad luck, I think. But it could be that Jake and Co. are known to work celebrity scandal stories (the publicity scene in the barbershop) and so they would dig deep enough to find a supposed affair, but no deeper. Often times people find what they're looking for (they aren't impartial) and so Jake's team might've been hired because they would almost certainly come up with scandal and that would be that. What they didn't count on, of course, was Jake's tenacity and his need to clear himself. Mostly, though, I think it was chance that Ida picked Jake.

I think it would be, yeah. I think Polanski made the right choice, but things go wrong at the end only in the last couple minutes of screen time. If you had a happier ending the rest of the movie would still be dynamite. And Polanski and Towne are too good not to give the movie a terrific ending, whether it's upbeat or a downer.

Noah Cross absolutely gets away with it. It's a big theme of the movie that money and power obliterate anything that gets in their way. Maybe a depressing or nihilistic concept, but there it is.

[–] GiaJake 9 years ago

Ace - Thanks for your insightful post. I agree that Noah Cross gets away with it all.

[–] TommyRob 9 years ago

"The thoughts of Katherine being in the hands of Huston at the finish was so upsetting..."

I agree GiaJake. He latched onto her like he was looking for another conquest, and it was sickening. I was looking forward to an end where Cross would have his ass handed to him for all the crime and corruption he participated in, but I guess it wasn't to be.

[–] GiaJake 9 years ago

Tommy - I was hoping old Noah would pay for his crimes too, but as you noted it wasn't to be.