The trail leads back - The Two Jakes

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Movie
German title The trail leads back - The Two Jakes
Original title The Two Jakes
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1990
length 137 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jack Nicholson
script Robert Towne
production Robert Evans
Harold Schneider
Jack Nicholson
music Van Dyke Parks
camera Vilmos Zsigmond
cut Anne Goursaud
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Chinatown

The Trail Leads Back - The Two Jakes (Original Title: The Two Jakes ) is an American crime film directed by Jack Nicholson from 1990 . He is a continuation of the film Chinatown by Roman Polanski from the year 1974 .

action

In the late 1940s JJ Gittes ran a thriving detective agency in Los Angeles . Real estate entrepreneur Julius Berman hires him to find evidence of his wife Kitty's infidelity. Gittes arranges that Berman his wife with her lover in flagrante caught, and takes the action on tape. In doing so, however, Berman shoots the lover. Gittes hands his client over to the police, but hides the tape in the safe in his office.

Gittes finds out that the lover who was killed is Berman's business partner Bodine. He suspects Berman to have used him to obtain mitigating circumstances for a cold-blooded murder. Bodine's widow Lillian also believes that Berman had planned the murder for a long time in order to appropriate Bodine's part in their joint construction project. She confronts Gittes, which later leads to an affair.

Gittes continues to investigate on his own and comes between the fronts. Both the police and Berman's criminal friend Mickey Nice are after the tape. During his investigation, Gittes discovers that the land Berman is building on formerly belonged to Katherine Mulwray, the daughter of his former lover Evelyn Mulwray. The unscrupulous oil magnate Earl Rawley is after the mining rights for this land. Upon meeting Kitty Berman, Gittes realizes she is Katherine Mulwray. Bodine had found this out too and tried to blackmail the Bermans for the mining rights. Since Berman has terminal cancer, he murdered Bodine to protect his wife after his death.

Gittes edited the tape for a preliminary court hearing. He cuts out all mentions of Katherine Mulwray's name in order to protect Katherine and to keep the court in the dark about Berman's motive. He also testifies that he was in the room at the time of the crime and saw that Bodine pulled the revolver and that Berman was acting in self-defense.

In a model house of the construction project, Gittes finally confronts Berman. He admits that he planned the murder and selected Gittes for his connection to the Mulwrays. At that moment crude oil penetrates the bathroom through the pipes and the house fills with natural gas. Berman urges Gittes to flee, leaving him alone, and blows himself up with the house.

The story ends with Kitty and Gittes in his office. They talk about repentance and Kitty kisses Gittes. This refuses their advances. When Kitty leaves, she tells him to think of her occasionally. After a while, Gittes says he thinks it will "never stop".

production

The shooting took place in Los Angeles .

The film premiered on August 10, 1990. It grossed approximately 10 million US dollars in cinemas in the United States .

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on August 10, 1990 that the film tells about the “mood” of the protagonists, about time and about two men in love. It is less of a thriller, although it contains elements of a thriller. The film is very dark. It states that love and loss are more important than questions of guilt and justice.

Cinema said: “In his third directorial work, Jack Nicholson continues to spin Polanski's 1974 classic - a bit confused, but profoundly and very elegantly photographed. Conclusion: gloomy and complicated, but still strong. "

The lexicon of international films wrote: "The critically intended time image from America, which prospered immediately after the Second World War, turns out to be a superficial crime thriller with the usual effects, clichés and types of the genre, which by no means match the quality of its predecessor, Roman Polanski's" Chinatown "(1974)."

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Filming locations. Retrieved December 21, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Box office / business. Retrieved December 21, 2016 .
  3. ^ Review by Roger Ebert, accessed June 14, 2007
  4. ^ Film review on Cinema, accessed June 14, 2007
  5. ↑ The Trace Leads Back - The Two Jakes in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed June 14, 2007