Word: polanski
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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True classics are, by definition, timeless; we see them again and again because they continue to offer something new. The most rigorous test of artistic achievement ascertains whether a work of art can hold up over time, whether it can still offer meaning to a changing audience. Director Roman Polanski's film "Chinatown" is an interesting case study in the construction of a classic. When "Chinatown" premiered in 1974, the film received outstanding critical praise and ten Oscar nominations. This was enough to make it a success in its time. The question now, twenty years after its premiere, is whether...
...Polanski has adeptly managed to sharpen the pace and buildup of mystery in this slightly convoluted detective thriller. Set in Southern California in the mid-1930s, the film seethes with human greed, political corruption and family scandal, so that it seems that even the land surrounding Los Angeles is tainted...
Credit is due to Polanski for trying to differentiate "Chinatown" from the formulaic detective story which invariably moves from initial chaos to the final restoration of social order. Himself a victim of tragedy and public scandal, Polanski knows that injustice is far more prevalent than happy endings, and the dramatic impact is effective. Yet, other aspects of the film thwart this attempt at originality. Polanski wanted to evoke the world of the Raymond Chandler detective novels, without imitating the look of the black and white classics of the 1930s. Although "Chinatown" was filmed in color, the resemblance...
Bitter Moon. The only thing that was bitter about this Roman Polanski turkey was me, that I had paid the exorbitant amount of money to see it. Hugh Grant gives an absolutely listless performance. I saw Four Weddings and a Funeral again, and I felt better...
...dismay, Maurice pegged him for dramas, and he wound up in a variety of serious Eurofilms including Merchant-Ivory's Remains of the Day. "If they would only give me something lighter," he recalls saying to himself, "I'd be better." Finally, Grant's amusing performance in Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon brought him to the attention of Four Weddings director Mike Newell and led to his screen break in a real comedy...