Blu-ray Review: Fantastic Release for Timeless Classic ‘Chinatown’

CHICAGO – There are a few movies that I absolutely adore — the ones that come to mind when people ask me what I think are the best films ever made. More often than not, they are the films that first shaped the way I look at cinema when I first moved past the New Releases section at the video store to the classics of the medium. One such film is Roman Polanski’s stunning “Chinatown,” a film that has lost absolutely none of its timeless power in its recently-released Blu-ray restoration complete with new special features and interviews. It may sound cliched, but “Chinatown,” especially in HD, really looks like it could have come out last year. And it would have been the year’s best movie.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

The Blu-ray arrival of “Chinatown” is not just ushered in with the quality of the film itself or a spectacular HD transfer but a new commentary track and new appreciation of the film featuring some notable creative voices commenting on the film’s influence on their career. The commentary features screenwriter Robert Towne and director David Fincher and “Chinatown: An Appreciation” includes Kimberly Peirce, Steven Soderbergh, Roger Deakins, and more. Both features ALONE would make “Chinatown” a must-own. Add them to the previously available features that include interviews with Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson, and more, and the perfect HD transfer, and this is going to be one of the most important classic film Blu-rays of 2012. Don’t miss it.

Chinatown was released on Blu-ray on April 3, 2012
Photo credit: Paramount

Synopsis:
In a legendary performance, three-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson stars as private eye Jake Gittes. Hired by a mysterious woman to investigate Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department Of Water and Power, Gittes’ sleuthing brings him into contact with Mulwray’s wife (Academy Award winner Faye Dunaway), a stunning socialite with secrets of her own. As a determined Gittes delves deeper he soon realizes that even the City of Angels has a dark side. Director Roman Polanski’s Chinatown has evolved from an atmospheric film noir mystery into a modern-day classic, with Robert Towne’s Academy Award-winning script unforgettably and brilliantly capturing a lost era of deceit, corruption and treachery.

Special Features:
o Commentary By Screenwriter Robert Towne with David Fincher
o Water and Power: The Aqueduct - The Aftermath - The River and Beyond
o Chinatown: An Appreciation
o Chinatown: The Beginning and End
o Chinatown: Filming
o Chinatown: The Legacy
o Theatrical Trailer

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com