Endless darkness

Camylle 2022-03-23 09:01:16

The light and shadow of traditional film noir fascinates people and has become an important symbol of film noir. People have to think about how to make color film noir. Polanski's "Chinatown" gave us an answer. Although most of the movies are in broad daylight, the fact of crime under the sun always fills the film with a gloomy atmosphere, until the end is completely in the dark of Chinatown. Released, the feeling of powerlessness and sadness at that moment completely covered the screen, making the broad daylight in front of it look like a child's play, and the black at the end of the movie is worthy of the standard of film noir.

Regardless of film noir, the detective model of "Chinatown" is also innovative. Traditional detective movies provide limited clues to the audience. The audience always looks at how the detective solves the case from the perspective of a bystander; while "Chinatown" actively allows the audience to enter the protagonist's position, follow the protagonist to visit various clues, and face complex clues , The audience and the protagonist think about the trend of the case simultaneously. This greatly increases the interaction between the movie and the audience, and allows the audience to assume the identity of the protagonist, which makes the impact of the ending of the movie extremely powerful.

There are many clues in the movie, rather than a single clue, which makes the case extremely real. When the protagonist is pursuing various clues, there are always two doubts: one is that the wife killed her husband; the other is that the wealthy people in Los Angeles killed the director of the Water Resources Bureau. Although more evidence was unearthed along with clues, it was still unable to point to a certain place with certainty. This left the protagonist and the audience in a state of exhaustion and confusion. Not only did the case fail to progress, but the protagonist was constantly dragged into the vortex of the case, with all kinds of troublesome upper body powerlessness. In this case, the fact of incest has shocked everyone, not only because of the moral impact of incest, but also because of the ugly darkness hidden in it.

Although the protagonist is sleek and sophisticated everywhere, at this time, he is incomparably righteous in the contrast of endless darkness. For the safety of the heroine and to expose the dark facts of Los Angeles, he tried his best, but it was a pity that everything disappeared in the night of Chinatown. The only hope in the movie lasted for more than ten minutes, and the full powerlessness always strangled the audience's throat and suffocated people.

If the audience is interested, you can actually imagine yourself as the protagonist, write down all the evidence according to the progress of the plot, and you will discover the facts that the protagonist discovered. This is the fun away from the standpoint of the bystander, so that the audience sitting in the audience can enjoy the adventure charm of a tough guy detective, and will be completely overwhelmed by this ending.

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Extended Reading

Chinatown quotes

  • Jake Gittes: Look, I do matrimonial work, It's my metiay. When a wife tells me that she's happy her husband is cheating on her, it runs contrary to my experience.

    Evelyn Mulwray: Unless what?

    Jake Gittes: She was cheating on him.

  • Jake Gittes: Does my talking about your father upset you?

    Evelyn Mulwray: Why, no! Yes, a little. You see Hollis and my fa - my father had a falling out - finally.

    Jake Gittes: Over you or over the water department?

    Evelyn Mulwray: Not over me. Why should it - be over me?