Chinatown -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 89)
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It's an LA Noir detective story. Let's review and analyze Chinatown. This video discusses the classic detective movie starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston, directed by Roman Polanski.
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Man the ending of this move is absolutely brilliant. It’s so true to life that it almost leaves you stunned in disbelief
Roman Polanski, yes, the puritanical American press has crucified him for decades for his dalliance with a 13 year old girl. Very few know the actual story, the girl herself has no ill feelings towards Roman, and being European and considerably more sophisticated than the spawn of colonists, whom in essence were mostly poor Brits considered trash by their upper-class countrymen as well as repressed religious zealots, love to sit in moral judgement. Plymouth Rock got the witch burners and Jamestown only had a few noblemen. Georgia was populated by British convicts.
In a plea agreement, the director agreed to plead guilty to "engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor", undergoing a 90 day psychiatric evaluation and probation. Polanski complied with the terms and it would have all been over and done with except the judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, reneged on his own prosecutor's plea bargain. Thus, Roman got the hell out of the American Empire for good and has lead a much more fulfilling life mostly in France where young girls desire to bed older men as a rite of passage.
The propaganda is that we live in the "land of the free". That concept is absolutely absurd!
I just saw this film recently a second time, and I'm appreciating it even more!
excellent!
Great essay! Chinatown is one of my favorite movies ever. Its entertaining, poetic, and visceral.
thank you!
Personally, I'd be a bit kinder about Gittes' personality. He's very flawed and definitely not a 'hero'. But he does have the ability to have empathy and a certain amount of romantic nobility, especially if there are similarities to what happened in his past. That is all undercut by his unwillingness to not confront the man who he realises has been playing him all along and his over-confidence about how that confrontation will go. Gittes several times through the movie reacts strongly when his reputation and integrity are called into question and especially when he is being manipulated. I'm not a Jack Nicholson fan (he's a very talented actor without doubt), but I love his performance in 'Chinatown'
fair enough. good comment, thanks!
Jake is a tragic character: all his strengths & abilities are not enough to save him from his flaw: he's hasty, impulsive, and has a hidden wish to impress Noah Cross, whom in some dark way he admires.
@@constantreader8760 Interesting insight about wanting to impress Cross, which might be why Gittes is so quick to show Cross his entire hand, including his one piece of physical evidence, near the end. He presents as slick and street-smart, yet doesn’t expect Cross to have goons at hand to make sure Cross gets his way. And he has to be told that Cross owns the police-something that’s obvious to the audience from the first shots of Cross’ estate. Gittes, like so many other characters and LA itself (especially another part of town, called Hollywood), artifice. And LA certainly isn’t the only part of the world with a brightly lit stage and very dark backstage. Jake’s one of the wide-eyed wounded.
@@vincegay986 Yes, he should have had some backup during that scene, but he probably didn't trust the cops either.
@@truthseeker7341 Not at all my point.
It might have my favorite ending ever, and the way the film builds up to the conclusion by mentioning that something bad happened in chinatown in the past creates this perfect sense of the inevitable, which provides for the final moments to feel almost transcendental and of a higher level of poetry than what led up to it.
yes!
Ah good point. Hadn't realised that hint to the past as nothing good happens there. And hence the 'forget it Jake, it's Chinatown'.
As Wm. Faulkner said: "The saddest word is 'again.'" Jake repeats a tragedy that happened in his past. Because he wants to make it come out right this time.
Thank you for this excellent analysis of "Chinatown." I've seen it at least 6 times. You've made some observations I've never heard before: The theme of the pristine side versus the damaged side: the glasses (or "smoking gun" that was there all along) with the smashed lens and the intact lens; the smashed tail light and the intact tail light; Gittes' scarred left nostril and his right unwounded nostril; Evelyn's flaw in the iris in one eye and the other unblemished eye. And the diagonal background lines in many scenes with Gittes. The shortest distance between two points, in "Chinatown," is not a straight line. Something is "off," or slanted, and he doesn't see it until the end, when it's too late.
you're welcome. yes, all the slants add up to something; too bad they are always behind him and he can't ever see them!
I agree that this is one of the best scripts ever written. Two things have bugged me since I saw "Chinatown" on opening night in summer, 1974. (No reviews were out yet and we, the audience, expected a conventional noir thriller and homage to the detective procedurals of the 1940's with Humphrey Bogart, Lawrence Tierney, Bob Mitchum, Dick Powell, et al. Of course, we walked out of the theater gutted, in silence, trying to take in what we'd just seen.) First, everything is right there that Gittes needs to identify Mulwray's killer: The salt water pond and the perp's glasses. Gittes points the glasses out to the gardener, but is distracted by Mrs. Mulwray's sudden appearance and forgets all about the glasses. So, we have to believe that the fastidious gardener just leaves the glasses at the bottom of the pond for Gittes to eventually fish out himself. Gittes may have been distracted, but the gardener wasn't. The second thing is, after working as a cop in Chinatown, Gittes knows that the power brokers pull all the strings, get away with everything, and own the system. Yet, he actually believes he can nail Noah Cross for Hollis Mulwray's murder! Gittes is cocky, not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, and is actually two steps behind Cross' criminal syndicate, when he foolishly believes he's two steps ahead. There's a naivete in the character, as written, that I found hard to swallow in an experienced hardened, chastened cop turned private eye.
Could even be a Right hand path vs left hand path symbology + one eye.
@@lemorab1 Good points
China Town...lets agree ob 1 thing. Polanski is a master genius. China Town is about to be released on 4k HDR disk....so cant wait. Recently been checkin out other his films and "Tess" !!! amazing , also "Tenant". These young kid hollywood directors need take lessons from the Master 🎥 Director.
I just discovered this now. Great idea for a TH-cam channel, even better execution. I can't wait to follow you going forward.
thank you.
This one of the movies ever made. Brilliant.
yes!
I agree it is one of the movies made ever
@@theeoddments960 it is for sure on of them
Great analysis again my friend of a movie that has many problems surrounding it like the director and that dark, dark subject matter in the plot but the whole thing is so captivating and compelling one easily falls under it's spell. Nicholson is just a joy to watch with phenomenal support all round. One of the greatest of the "new hollywood" films.
thank you.
Great analysis, what else do you expect from the Professor? Love it when you dive a little bit deeper into the movie, and show us mortals all the subliminal symboles!
thank you.
Jack Nicholson is my favorite actor of all time. Delivers another legendary performance in this
he deserves a video. he was great at choosing projects, especially that killer run in the 1970s.
Learning about Movies Absolutely, can you make a video about him? I think he’s in the top 3 actors of all time
I have been thinking about it for months. Just trying to figure out the format -- ranking his movies or going through them chronologically? I need to watch a couple of obscure ones first, such as the King of Marvin Gardens.
Hells Angel's on Wheels ~ Poet
Discovered your essays when teaching a film genres class. Watched and assigned breakfast club review and first scene breakdown among others. All really good stuff. What prompts me to write now is your love of Ross MacDonald. He was the best! And Harper with Paul Newman is another good LA mystery noir adapted from first Lew Archer novel.
thank you very much.
There was a time in my life where I was getting screwed out of some money. It stressed me out. To help, a good friend reminded me of a great quote from Chinatown: " I don't get tough with anyone, Mr. Gittes. My lawyer does. - Evelyn Mulwray"
Suffice it to say, I hired a lawyer to be tough for me and everything worked out very well. Chinatown has a quote for everything.
Just watched last night. Great summary. Good to hear some of the symbolism in it. I may need to learn more about film noir because I have no idea about that except light and shadows.
maybe I should do an intro video on that. thanks.
@@LearningaboutMovies Yesssss.
Quality time and era you already know!
yes.
The score is also amazing!
yes!
Your analysis is divine. Thank you for existing.
Perfect screenplay, perfect movie.
Love Chinatown! I am a huge fan of Roman Polanski's work. Have you seen Knife in the Water?
have not. always have to meant to go back to his earlier works, but have not seen anything before Rosemary's Baby -- instead, just about everything after it.
My favorite movie of all.perfect from beginning to end,
Great video, finished the movie today and the ending was chilling.
“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
thank you.
Its really about the San Fernando Valley which is the north part of Los Angeles. It is by nature a desert which became a suburb.
I loved the film. Haven’t seen it in 5 years or so though. This and M are my favorite noir films, though neither is technically film noir. I finished reading the Big Sleep this week. While I liked the deadpan style of it, I thought it had a lot of problems (two halves feel very separate, the resolution of the regan plot line comes out of nowhere and is not well done, the henchman villain with no character they set up in the second half). Maybe it’s because I’m more used to the tropes of film noir now than when I saw Chinatown years ago. I think Chinatown does a better much job with the theme of corruption in society. In some ways, I could see Chinatown’s ending as the origin for any detached amoral protagonist in noir (that isn’t to discount what makes Jake Gittes character unique among other noir detectives). After experiencing that, it makes sense that someone would become so emotionally detached and give up.
Chandler is more a style and atmosphere writer, with a fun narrator. MacDonald is far better with plots. The ability for movies to visualize really does do what you say: capture in a provocative way the "theme of corruption in society." Would have been fun to have a sequel with the Gettes character. Jack could still do it!
@@LearningaboutMovies A sequel was made - The Two Jakes directed by Jack Nicholson. It flopped & plans for a 3rd dropped. The original idea by the writer Robert Towne was to have 3 scripts all based in LA on the themes of Water ( Chinatown) , Land ( The Two Jakes) & Gas. There's still a script out there & Jack Nicholson as well as Robert Towne are still alive as is Polanski in case someone's interested in producing.
I have seen this movie 10+ times in last 10 years
XLNT analysis For years I knew the composer of the original soundtrack, Phillip Lambro (before Jerry Goldsmith)
thank you. that's neat.
Great analysis! One of my favorite movies.
I'm a Southern Californian. I love the history. I would like to recommend the book by Catherin Mulholland about her grandfather William Mulholland. 'William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles'.
A great history of Los Angeles. And, a fair judge of a much maligned historical figure. This movie, in Hollywood fashion, hyperbolizes that historical time and figure, in an metaphorical way. But, I love this film! Jack Nicholson is great!
This analysis of Chinatown is very perceptive and it exposes several subtle themes that I had not consciously noticed, but I don't see it as belonging with the other "paranoid" political thrillers of the 1970s: Parallax, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, and the Odessa File. For one thing, those were all star vehicles for the leading young Hollywood actors of the day. It was almost as though it was a competition among them (photo finish, Redford and Hoffman).
Additionally, those were all set in the contemporary world and the political intrigue was on a national and international scale. They couldn't have really been made at any time except the late/post Vietnam period, although The Manchurian Candidate was a forerunner of sorts. Those all (except Vought's vehicle) had a subversive anti-establishment quality that is lacking in most '90s and post 9/11 political thrillers.
I guess Nicholson never got that kind of star vehicle. Chinatown is a director's movie. That is meant in no way as a criticism of his or anyone else's performance in the film. I see it as very much a throwback to the good or great black and white film noir detective movies starring Bogart, Mitchum or Dick Powell, with a pinch of Hitchcock mixed-in. Filtered light substitutes for chiaroscuro while giving it a nostalgic feeling. It is the only such throwback that equals or exceeds the originals, IMO.
Hey I just saw it on Monday
great!
Please review Farewell, My Lovely (1975), a film that was heavily influenced by Chinatown; so much so that it was even photographed by the same cinematographer who worked on Chinatown (John A. Alonzo).
I did! That video is on the channel somewhere - just search for it.
I still don’t get why it’s so praised. I thought it was just alright. I don’t really get why the ending is so good.
thanks.
Thanks for an insightful analysis. I've never had a problem liking the character of Jake Gittes. Compared with a PI like say Sam Spade he's one step behind rather than one ahead which feels rather more realistic. On the other hand, like Spade, he has professional pride and a strong personal moral code that motivates his actions. I feel the hand-held camera puts the viewer alongside Jake, the pov of a partner in the investigation. And like Gittes, our weakness is being unable to imagine the full depravity of Noah Cross before it's too late. The line where Cross reveals he's "...capable of just about anything" is one of the most chilling in cinema history.
" And like Gittes, our weakness is being unable to imagine the full depravity of Noah Cross before it's too late." Good point!
I love this account
thank you.
Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown
I like the line mumbled by Jake just before that, almost lost in thought, '..... as little as possible.' And the cop looks ready to punch him when he just catches a bit of it, like it's the Precinct joke/punchline. lol. classic film, the ending it deserved. Went nowhere. Beat goes on.
If you like hard boiled fiction, yes Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald but if you haven't yet, I think the best of the bunch is Jim Thompson (The Killer Inside Me, The Grifters, and my favorite Pop 1280).
Chinatown and another film released in 1974, The Conversation (which I watched again today after several years) have the darkest endings of any movies I have ever seen. I think both are brilliant.
early 1970s = not a time for happy endings.
@@LearningaboutMovies Lol. It’s why those movies stay with you for a long time.
"The Conversation" WAS brilliant..and EXTREMELY disturbing..Gene Hackman was SO amazing in every movie...
Guess you've not seen grave of the fireflies, that's the saddest and probably the most depressing film I've ever watched
@jones848 I wouldn't discuss Grave of the Fireflies here, but I do agree with you that it is one of the most, if not the number one depressing film I have ever seen. I am surprised I watched it quite a few times, because it always left me with a sense of dread for those I deeply cared about. I haven't watched it again in years, and ever since our daughter was born, I don't think I ever want to watch it again. I worry about my family enough.
Fast forward to Lake Mead and the Colorado River today. The Great Lakes are being eyeballed for sharing resources if its not being stolen aleady. Great movie for all to see.
i haven't seen this movie yet and i'm kind of skeptical of watching it because of polanski and we all know what he did. i have a hard time separating the art from the artist and i wanna know your thoughts on this cuz i'm really conflicted.
what polanski is accused of is not only disgusting, but it's abhorrent that he fled.
I think the art is separate from the artist, mostly, depending on context. Some of the most beloved poems in the world were written by a man who used his power to seduce a woman and then had her husband murdered. That's King David, who by that definition was a moral monster.
Caravaggio was a murderer, Cellini confessed to everything, Lewis Carroll was a pedo by our standards, and the list goes on for pages and pages.
If the artist is using art condescendingly, to upbraid others while proving his/her own virtue, and the artist is clearly a hypocrite, that's when I object. Alas, that is quite a bit of Hollywood these days! Also, Thoreau.
Polanski made many good movies. "The Pianist" is still great and it's a separate entity from the monster who directed it. Same with Chinatown. btw, the video I made on "Tess," another Polanski movie, touches on this point just a little bit.
@@LearningaboutMovies thanks so much for your insights! i might give his films a watch with unbiased eyes one day
I feel that knowing what Polanski did has a unique effect on this film in particular. The film is a meditation on evil and knowing that the director himself participated in such vile acts similar to the Father character only cements this film's themes.
NOTE* This does not justify in any shape or form what Polanski did, he is a vile person for not only what he did but that he also didn't have the balls to face his rightful punishment. I just feel knowing about the man who directed this film and the fact that he never faced punishment for the evil he committed directly contributes to this film's themes being so impactful and unforgettable.
@@LearningaboutMovies it's perhaps easier to watch a movie from a director than it is to watch an actor like Spacey without thinking about his crimes the whole while watching him. He was one of my favourite actors... now...I agree with trying to separate artist from works. Many musicians are quite deplorable but I'm not going to stop listening to Oasis or other great music.
@@the_succ_ Yes, but Polanski didn't write those vile deeds perpetrated by the Cross patriarch. Robert Towne did.
This is a nice breakdown. I wish you would have done a deep dive.
thanks.
interesting how jake getties is referred to as getts without the i by noah cross, someone he seems to have a blind eye to.
Jake Gittes is certainly central to the movie but it's wrong to cast him as the bad guy; he has lingering scars from a previous experience in Chinatown, a no-win scenario, where if you tried to help - something Gittes has clearly avoided since this first tragedy - all it does is make things worse, as Gittes semi-explains to Mrs. Mulholland in the bedroom scene. This is the undercurrent of the whole movie and explains the great foreboding we feel when Gittes finally decides to help again: he's going to bring down Noah Cross himself, he's going to make things right - not the actions of a bad guy. It continues to the very last scene when yet again things have gone horribly sideways and Gitte's associate says 'C'mon Jake. It's Chinatown.' Classic Noir indeed: corruption and horrors everywhere and if you try to help you only make things worse.
Thank you, found it hard to enjoy or praise the movie after I learned about Roman Polanski, Nicholson was great though, his performance was memorable
you're welcome.
The bad guy wins! But it was one of the greatest movie scores of all time! A tour d force
The one side ok and the other side damaged makes a real big showing when Nicholson and Dunaway leave the Mar Vista retirement home by making an escape from Claude Mulvahill and the other thugs outside, including Polanski's knife crook. As Nicholson hops on the running board and as the car speeds around the drive, several shots are fired at Dunaway's limo. In the next shot they are down the road with one side of the car's split windshield shot...and Dunaway is driving the car while adjusting the makeup on her eye that gets shot later in the movie...a real forshadowing of what's to come.
good observation, thank you!
Yes, she seems to be trying to flick away an unwanted particle of soot that blew into her eye.
Seen this movie only once, like actually sat down and watch it w/o distractions.
I kinda want to rewatch it but Im afraid it might lose the magic.
Is Ross MacDonald the writer of the Harper detective stories? The basis of 'Harper' with Paul Newman and 'The Drowning Pool'?
yes, you're right. The Newman character is indeed named Lew Harper; they changed that from the novel, where his name is Lew Archer. The movie that came before "Drowning Pool", called Harper, is also based on a MacDonald novel.
@@LearningaboutMovies Thank you. I'll check MacDonald out. Much appreciated.
Chinatown symbolizes as not just the place where it got the best of Gittes, but the obscurity and futility that he tried to do the right thing and loss. It would appear that it’s the brutal reality that better left alone and the more involved you get the worse it seems. And “you want to do as little as possible” yet Gittes did not take this advice which end up putting him back into Chinatown.
There are many motifs of foreshadowing:
The first few lines in the opening scene, Gittes tells Curly that “You need to have money and sophistication to get away with murder.” Which later embodies the mr. Cross figure getting away with the most heinous crimes.
The chinaman joke told by Gittes is about get screwed by a chinaman. Aside from the vulgar language, jack gets repeatedly screwed by chinatown. Before as a cop and later as a p.i.
Eveyln’s death can be picked up by a few repeated hints. Gittes breaks the car mirror of the right side which is the side Evelyn got shot. And the bifocals had a crack on the same side of the eye that got shot.
The lines stuff is revelatory.
Trying to watch all 100 AFI films this year, about 10 watched so far (this year). I don't know whether I love this or Casablanca more, both are likely top 10 films all-time for me though, the honking of the horn still churns my stomach, weeks after. I don't know how often I'll watch this as it isn't an easy film to watch, especially because of the vile monster Polanski would become shortly after this film. The line about how most men are capable of anything especially makes me sick to my stomach.
indeed yes. you make me think about doing some video or videos on the AFI top 100 -- what should be in and what shouldn't.
@@LearningaboutMovies I think it's a fun conversation, I'd definitely be interested in that
I found this video trying to make some sense of why people call this a masterpiece. I'm a little limited in that I don't always stare at the screen throughout a movie anymore since there's so many ways to multitask these days watching movies on my phone. So I really appreciate the visual messages that you point out. Still, I don't know if it's that I'm not much of a fan of some particular aspect of the canon of this kind of drama, but while I love the feel I find the plot confusing and empty of messaging or satire. I love the style of noir, and some of my favorite stories are cyberpunk with its dystopian streak and all, but I guess what I'm usually looking for is more than just a revelation of corruption. I'm looking for solutions. I'm looking for a reason to blame all the people who look away with complacency at society's problems. I do wonder if it's just me.
Try watching the movie instead of looking at your phone.
@@jamesscanlon5969 The movie is on my phone.
It's just you.
I love Faye Dunaway and this is my favorite role of hers. she is everything here
she's unbelievably beautiful
she's unbelievably classy
she's unbelievably confident
she's unbelievably mysterious
She's unbelievably, perfectly upper crust, the true image of an heiress to millions of dollars
she's unbelievably cool
I have never seen a more perfect embodiment of the femme fatale role, nor as absolutely physically beautiful. Can I marry you, Faye?
It's not one of the best, it's the best.
yesh. Albacore Club Good!
Idk why but I like Gittes. Idk what that says about me.
definitely likeable in a way. it's Jack!
Gittes appeals to the angry, impatient side of my personality. But he's gonna go down, and that's beautiful.
I want to dislike Polański for what he did, but… I can't. This isn't his only movie that shows simply how much talent and self-confidence he has.
Bro stfu the dude raped a 13yr old girl he can be a talented artist and a bad human, and I'd say the best part about this movie is the writing which he didn't even do.
Leave it jack its chinatown last line of movie . Roman polanski most talented director who creates poetry in time sculpted in images
People forget the ending to "They shoot horses don't they?" I think "Chinatown" is a great movie. I saw
it in the summer of 1974. Many people liked it. But few people thought it was great. But ugly buildings,
old whores--you know the rest.
Jake is the only Nicholson character I personally like.
?? Five Easy Pieces, The lawyer with the crushed skull from Easy Rider?
HAVE YOU WATCHED OTHER JACKS??
sorry.
@@timewa851 I didn't really like Bobby Dupea from Five Easy Pieces, two-timing and running out on his girl like that. I felt sympathy for the drunk lawyer in Easy Rider, but as far as "liking" him, I'm not sure...
It's not a "conspiracy theory" if it's really happening or actually happened. ..And the water rights "shenanigans" did actually go on back in those days. The corruption was real, so this is not a conspiracy theory movie. It's about the kind of double-dealing and corrupt behavior that really was going on. . .Not a conspiracy "theory" at all. This script is actually more "history" than "theory".
those two words set you off, and yet you did not listen. The Marc Reisner book documents the historical aspects of LA Water rights shenanigans as real conspiracies. This channel has fondness for that sort of material -- see my videos on JFK, MAlcolm X, Judas and the Black Messiah, Dr. Strangelove, etc.
its a great movie i have to admit, end is so sad, but
Roman Polanski ???? no one will adress the elephant in the room ?
Love this movie, but didn't buy the ending. It seems pretty farfetched that (Spoiler alert)
A. police would never have fired at someone like that when there are a lot of people around.
B. If the woman was shot, the car wouldn't have stopped so suddenly. Instead, it would've careened into a crowd of people.
c. Also the girl was in the car. The police have called off pursuits for this very reason.
the police shooting into crowds, with perfect precision, is another movie cliche useful for heightening the drama. I would not recommend it for real life.
"FORGET IT JAKE, IT'S NEW ORLEANS" lol...YOU obviously are not familiar with crooked PD's..NOPD is a good example
Imagine how much better it could have been if they had CGI and the MCU!
if only Aquaman were in the movie.
Thanks for giving all the reasons not to watch this film. Seems like a conspiracy air similar to that of "Network."
Many of the movies from this period have the same aire. Zeitgeist.
Something to think about... the chief engineer character is honestly the most fucked up of all... he was in an affair with *that person* even though he knew what was going on.
and yet he's the environmental hero/whistleblower, right? USually in noir, everybody is deeply corrupt, including the angels.
I'm pretty sure you're mistaken about Hollis Mulwray. He was not involved sexually with anyone. Cross just wanted Gittes to think so in order to have it treated like any other matrimonial sleuthing assignment coming over the transom. Hollis Mulwray was a thoroughly decent fellow. Evelyn sincerely believed that. And his refusal to build a dangerous dam confirms this for us.
I agree that you are mistaken if you mean Hollis Mulwray. He was not sexually involved with Katherine, he was a father figure to her and was trying to protect her. Hollis and Evelyn are the most morally uncompromised people in the story.
The plot of the movie is so very similar to the alleged life history of none other than Jack Nicholson.His mother-(Jack`s)- is supposed to be his own sister...!!
um, what??
@@LearningaboutMovies Well i guess u never heard that.I have,several times,from reliable sources,like mainstream media.If that is reliable enough...
usually I do not look into the lives of actors. Never have heard this one.
It's the other way around; the person he thought was his sister is his mother. Her parents raised him as one of their own since she was underage and unmarried when he was born.
I like to hear all opinions of this movie...
but I think you REALLY missed the boat on a lot of it...
please be more helpful than that.
Why did he ask the resting home director if they accept Jews?
good analysis, but personally i think the slants in the background is a bit of a stretch
thanks.
I think the ending was trash
standard noir ending. it's in all of the American noir books of the 20th century.
Why?
IMO it's overrated.
I never liked Roman Polanski. I personally find his work to be incredibly pretentious
fair enough.
I didn't like it. found it dull