Chinatown was incompetently written. Hurried, last minute re-writing, apparently by Polanski. The result is two films, very different, jammed into one. The film doesn't make sense. It is not set in Chinatown; it’s set in upper crust 1937 Los Angeles during the water wars. Chinatown is mentioned a few times and the film ends in Chinatown but Chinatown is not a theme, nor the explanation for how the film ends. When a movie’s title doesn’t fit, that’s a cardinal sign of a project that got away from the production professionals.
Chinatown is confusing because the parts of the two movies were forced together without regard for fit. It was just made darker by Polanski, that's all. There is no meaning, the themes are undeveloped and left to wither. It is shallow as the pond, not deep with layered meaning. It is confusing because it is confused, not because its complexity demands viewer discovery. There's no there. The end product is just sociopathic to Polanski's taste.
The casting of Chinatown was inspired, the acting was excellent, the cinematography beautiful but not meaningful.
