Brew Views: Chinatown

Forget it, Jake.

CHINATOWN
By AARON MESH

Anyone outraged by Tuesday's Oscar snubs (I can't quite imagine these people existing, but there they are on my Twitter feed) would do well to remember that Chinatown—the best movie ever made about corruption, Hollywood or father-daughter incest—didn't win Best Picture in 1974. (Losing to The Godfather Part II, but still. And Jack Nicholson lost to Art Carney in Harry and Tonto, a movie about an old man hitchhiking with his cat.) Moreover, Roman Polanski's masterstroke is a reminder that Hollywood was built on a bedrock of brazen robbery. "How much better can you eat?" Nicholson wonders in disgust, but he's too late with his protest. Might as well follow the example of John Huston digging into his fish supper, and just devour the dead thing.

  1. Showing at: Academy.
  2. Best paired with: New Belgium Belgo IPA.
  3. Also showing: Dazed and Confused (Laurelhurst). 

WWeek 2015

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