Film noir movie assignment
Chinatown (1974)
Roman Polanski’s brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency–and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J.J. Gittes, a private eye in the Raymond Chandler mold, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole center of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted color cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson’s nose. A marvelous blend of ’40s “noir” mystery and ’70s sexual tensions and one of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. –Anne Hurley
• Assignment: 1) Write an essay explaining why Chinatown exemplifies the film noir genre.
• Name at least three reasons this film is called film noir. What film noir “tropes” does it demonstrate?
• What is the difference between noir and neo-noir?
Please find a website on film noir conventions or “tropes.”
You need five paragraphs: an intro, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use four transitionals altogether. Use an interesting beginning, starting with a quote, an anecdote, or a question.
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• Please include among your research quotes from at least one film review, two may be better. Start with rottentomatoes.com to find full reviews by top critics.
• Also, add a quote from one article on the film noir genre. (By the way some people consider film noir a style rather than a genre, but that is not going to make a difference in your assignment.)
• This essay is due by or before the first class after Spring Break May 1.
