hzink@alchemy.UUCP (Harry K. Zink) (08/16/90)
THE TWO JAKES
A film review by Harry K. Zink
Copyright 1990 Harry K. Zink
Just got back from watching THE TWO JAKES, the "sequel" to
Chinatown directed by Jack Nicholson.
This will not contain any spoilers (so those of you paranoid about
getting your movie experienced destroyed by them may breathe easy).
This is meant more as a description of my feelings after seeing this
movie.
Well, first of all, I am extremely happy to note that Jack
Nicholson has resisted the temptation to make a "popular" movie (quick
cuts, upbeat soundtrack, lots of action, lots of sex) but instead has
opted to make a "good" film. It might not appeal to the 18-25 year old
crowd, but who really cares about them....
This movie takes off a few years after CHINATOWN and Nicholson
reprises his role as Jake Gittes, Private Investigator. It seems that
the years have been good to Jake, as his business has expanded, but that
he is still pre-occupied with the past (of Chinatown). So much for plot
summary - go see it if you want to know what the story is.
The movie is exceptionally well made and very pleasant to watch if
you are a fan of the original CHINATOWN. Nicholson has obviously gone
to great trouble to recreate the same atmosphere and ambiance the
original gave the audience. The movie just "felt" good, down to the
quality of the color and the cinematography (beautifully executed by
Vilmos Zsigismond).
Visually the movie is stunning, but fortunately the storyline and
continuity (in my opinion) were not disregarded either. The story kept
me at the edge of my seat, though slow at times, yet it kept serving up
surprises and twists (especially every time I thought I had it all
figured out).
Just as it was a joy to watch the handiwork of Nicholson, The
Director, it was equally pleasant to watch Nicholson, The Actor in
action (then again, name one movie where that was not the case...)
(with the possible exception of THE RAVEN and LITTLE SHOP...).
All I can say is that this movie is definitely worth watching if
you would like to see a *GOOD* movie for a change, reminiscent of a time
when such movies were still made.
Harry Zink
INET: hzink@alchemy.UUCP
UUCP: ucrmath!alchemy!hzinkreiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Reiher) (08/31/90)
THE TWO JAKES
A film review by Peter Reiher
Copyright 1990 Peter Reiher
THE TWO JAKES is a failure on two different fronts (three, if you
believe the weekend box office figures that show it was only the seventh
biggest draw in its opening weekend). It fails as a sequel to
CHINATOWN, and it fails as an independent movie. People who haven't
seen CHINATOWN (or don't remember it) won't understand much of what's
going on, while people who have will probably judge THE TWO JAKES
harshly in comparison. Both groups are liable to find it overlong and
slow.
Jake Gittes, the private investigator from CHINATOWN, is back, with
World War II under his belt and success in his profession that
approaches respectability. But he's still haunted by the ghosts of his
past. When a seemingly routine divorce case explodes in his face, the
past rushes in to envelop him. He's faced with the challenge of solving
his immediate problems while simultaneously reconciling with the past.
Of course, the past and the present prove to be inextricably linked.
Jack Nicholson returns as Jake Gittes, and also directs the film.
In addition, he did some rewriting of Robert Towne's script; at the
minimum, the narration is Nicholson's. He proves himself an excellent
actor, a reasonable writer, and a pedestrian director. Gittes is a very
finely delineated character, with great depths and complexities.
Nicholson builds the character not just with his dialog, but with his
expressions, his gestures, his costumes, and his surroundings.
Nicholson's performance is one of the best of the year, and one reason
to see THE TWO JAKES.
The script is not such a good reason. Towne has not provided as
strong a story for THE TWO JAKES as he did for CHINATOWN, nor are the
supporting characters as interesting. Towne did write some good lines,
and decent scenes, but failed in terms of the overall script. He relies
rather heavily on echoing CHINATOWN -- two thugs menace Jake, there's an
elderly mysterious rich man, changes of land titles figure heavily in
the plot. The idea was probably to set up resonances in the minds of
both Gittes and the audience, but it doesn't work. The mystery isn't
good enough, either. We may not guess everything that's going on, but
we don't care enough about the resolution. The narration added by
Nicholson works reasonably well, showing how completely Nicholson has
absorbed the character of Gittes.
CHINATOWN had as its roots the politics and business of water in
Los Angeles in the thirties. THE TWO JAKES attempts to build itself
around the politics and business of oil in Los Angeles in the late
forties. But oil does not permeate the atmosphere of the film in the
same way water did in CHINATOWN. In that film, drought brought the
importance of water to the forefront. The first film also used water
visually in a way that THE TWO JAKES fails to use oil. Oil wells are
scattered all around, and everyone talks about how rich and important
oil men are, but the film does not demonstrate, in its plot or its
visuals, how oil was the lifeblood of Los Angeles in this period.
THE TWO JAKES also fails to develop the atmosphere of CHINATOWN.
In CHINATOWN, corruption was present everywhere, a miasma-like precursor
to Los Angeles smog. The entire city seemed entwined in a web of
venality and evil. Shadowy lighting, moody music, eccentric characters,
and clever camera movement created a unique feel for the film. THE TWO
JAKES is lacking that feel. It isn't the same sort of film at all.
Vilmos Zgismond, the cinematographer, creates some very beautiful shots
reminiscent of the first film, but Nicholson the director does not show
the visual imagination that Roman Polanski brought to CHINATOWN.
Surprisingly, he doesn't have the vicious snap that Polanski did.
There's no moment in THE TWO JAKES that has the same punch as the scene
in CHINATOWN where the two hoods slashed Jake Gittes' nose. That scene
showed the immediate nastiness of violence in a way that dozens of
stunt men being jerked backwards by simulated gunshots does not, and
Polanski was able to use it to wake up the audience to the possibility
that bad things might really happen to people they cared about.
Nicholson provides no similar moment in THE TWO JAKES that makes dangers
real to the audience.
One element Nicholson does try to reproduce is the careful pacing
of Polanski's film. Polanski knows how to take his time, and paced
CHINATOWN very deliberately. Nicholson clearly saw that Polanski did
this, but doesn't seem able to copy the style successfully. Instead of
drawing the viewers in with a lazy seductiveness, the pacing of THE TWO
JAKES bores them. Nicholson's best directorial moments in the film come
when he is going for an entirely different style, one that verges on the
surrealistic and slapstick. It might be going too far to suggest that
THE TWO JAKES demonstrates that Nicholson can't direct, but he surely
can't imitate Roman Polanski very well.
THE TWO JAKES does have some strengths. As mentioned, Nicholson's
performance is excellent as is the cinematography. The period detail is
nicely presented, as well, giving the film a beautiful look. The
supporting cast is filled with fine actors doing good work, though in
some cases they have far too little to work with. Eli Wallach, Frederic
Forrest, and Richard Farnsworth simply don't have the screentime or
material to make a strong impression. Meg Tilly provides her usual
strong performance, Harvey Keitel is good as the second Jake of the
title, and Ruben Blades does a nice turn as a gangster. David Keith is
suitably vicious as a rotten cop, and Tom Waits has an unbilled scene as
the other half of Keith's Mutt and Jeff routine. By and large, however,
the supporting roles seem underwritten, or at least underrepresented in
the finished film.
The overall failure of THE TWO JAKES is a pity, because, for once,
someone attempted a sequel that would expand and richen the themes of
the original film, and an original film that had serious intentions, at
that. The only similar examples that spring to mind are THE GODFATHER
II (a definite success) and THE EXORCIST II (a stupendous failure). THE
TWO JAKES is decidedly not a ripoff of CHINATOWN. It has genuine
artistic intentions -- it's "about" something, and wants to reach
audiences in a way beyond the merely visceral. From the title, to the
basic strings of the plot, to the characters and their motivations,
Nicholson and Towne want us to think and feel. Among other things, THE
TWO JAKES is about love, loyalty, the inescapable influences of the
past, and redemption. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't work. While
far from a disaster, THE TWO JAKES is much too near a disappointment.
Peter Reiher
reiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov
. . . cit-vax!elroy!jato!jade!reiher