| Intruder arrested outside Paris Hilton's LA house By 2010-10-13T01:46:57ZLOS ANGELES (AP) -- Police say an intruder has been arrested after a scuffle with a security guard outside Paris Hilton's Los Angeles home.... hosted.ap.org |
Chinatown: Archive review From the Guardian, 9 August 1974"Chinatown has swept me off my feet in a trance of admiration" – Rex Reed, New York Daily News. "Forget Hitchcock. We've got Polanski!" Tom Burke, Rolling Stone.The accolades from America are deafening, the box-office returns impeccable. Roman Polanski's Chinatown is indeed a palpable hit – the first this highly talented, unpredictable director has had since Rosemary's Baby, which seems an age ago. He calls it, "a traditional detective story with a new, modern shape". And if by that he means an old cinematic genre decked in convincing new clothes, one can't quarrel.But Chinatown is rather more than just a skilful version of The Maltese Falcon, with Jack Nicholson updating the Bogart part and Faye Dunaway as a makeweight Bacall. In fact it is not really a homage at all, or another runner in the nostalgia stakes. It is too clever for that. It is a story of corruption and intrigue seen not only through the eyes of its central character, a specialist in divorce work grappling with murder, but by a film-maker acutely aware of the maverick society within which the individual drama takes shape. It is a narrow-eyed examination of the building of LA in the 30s, an exercise in the use and misuse of power that didn't deny hope entirely but twisted it into some odd shapes.The film works on both levels with surprising confidence and certainty, though there are times when it tends to imitate art rather than life or when Polanski's quirky humour breaks upon us, as in the grisly nose-cutting episode, with too obvious a thud. (Polanski should also forget Hitchcock and not appear in his own movies just to gain a knowing wink, even if he does give Nicholson the line: "Where did you get the midget?")But this is still one of the director's least indulgent movies, which not only says something for him but for the excellence of Robert Towne's screenplay and for the firmness of Robert Evans's hand as producer. As best man at the wedding of a good script and a good director, Evans clearly deserves a measure of praise since Towne's work is not self-evidently Polanski territory even though it's clearly Nicholson's, as The Last Detail showed.Nicholson's portrait of JJ Gittes, matrimonial investigator, is one of his best. He has to suggest both the cynicism that clearly goes with his job – "politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough" – and the naivety of a city slicker genuinely appalled at the depth and scale of the corruption he uncovers. He is like an obstinate dog worrying at a bone too big for him to swallow and his perplexity is catching. […] The plot unfolds so that we never perceive more than Gittes, and seek the same answers as he does. Which leaves Dunaway's character and motivation shrouded throughout. She has to build a performance that gives nothing away, and does so remarkably well, suggesting a vulnerability behind a cool facade that does not betray the film's purposes. She hasn't had so good a part or done so well in it since Bonnie and Clyde.The film is handsomely made throughout and slowly burns its way towards a formidably macabre climax. An American critic wrote that it "creates a moral midnight in the solar glow of Los Angeles" and one is not disposed to argue. It is a grownup love story and mystery that isn't frightened of its more serious implications, nor of seeking to entertain in spite of them. In short, it is both box office and genuinely good. No wonder Rex Reed fell into a trance. It doesn't happen often.CrimeRoman PolanskiJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn Hustonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Win tickets to the ultimate cinematic experience 100 pairs of tickets to be won to the next Secret Cinema event in London guardian.co.uk |
New baby for Damon and wife Matt Damon’s wife Luciana Barrosa has given birth to baby girl. feeds.breakingnews.ie |
Q&A: Writer Nathan Rabin on Years Watching Hollywood Flops Columnist Nathan Rabin has spent four years watching and reviewing crappy movies, and his new book, My Year of Flops, collects some of the most hilarious entries. He speaks to TIME about appreciating fiascoes and defending flops feedproxy.google.com |