MovieMacro #2: Is Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" Overrated? | Keith Jackewicz, Alex Sheremet @automachination

Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

In Roman Polanski's "Chinatown": classic dialogue is meshed with a vague, internal poesy -- what of the ending? was Evelyn Cross involved in her husband's murder? -- to create a cult classic. But will it have staying power, or ultimately be deemed overrated? In MovieMacro #2, Alex Sheremet and Keith Jackewicz lie around Washington Square Park and compare individual elements in "Chinatown" with elements from other films, assess the realism of the characters' motives and behaviors, and try to determine what, if anything, the film points to.

Some topics covered: Chinatown's hard-boiled dialogue vs. that of Orson Welles; Polanski's ending vs. that of Kobayashi's "Hara-kiri"; Evelyn as too vague & undeveloped; the 'chinatown' motif, Polanski's use of race & diaspora vs. that of John Cassavetes's "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie"; given what we know of Polanski, will good art works done by bad people get asterisks going forward?

This video has been uploaded alongside a Patreon-only bonus show with Keith, which can be found by subscribing here: patreon.com/automachination

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Tags: #Chinatown, #RomanPolanski, #overrated, #MovieMacro, #ArtiFactPodcast

MovieMacro #2: Is Roman Polanskis Chinatown Overrated? | Keith Jackewicz, Alex Sheremet

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