3. CHINATOWN

Lies. This movie is all about lies.

The story concerns LA private detective Jake Gittes, who takes a case from Evelyn Mulwray, who thinks her husband is cheating on her. Right away, we are caught in a lie, because after tailing Mr. Mulwray, a player in the city's water department, we discover that Mrs. Mulwray was a fake. The real Mrs. Mulwray reveals herself at Gittes' office and subsequently hires him to find out who impersonated her.

The lies continue, both small and big: Jake lies to access a police investigation at the reservoir, Mrs. Mulwray lies to Jake about why her husband and her father had a falling out, Jake and Mrs. Mulwray lie to get admitted at an old-folks home to ask questions.

And, of course, the biggest lie of the film is one of omission: "She's my sister. She's my daughter." Finally, Mrs. Mulwray comes out with the truth: "She's my sister and my daughter." And the ugly truth is revealed.

Here's the genius of designing a movie around a string of lies: you have no shortage of obstacles for the hero of the story, who must uncover lie after lie and sort the truth out from those. This is especially rich for a character like Jake Gittes, a smooth operator who always seems one step ahead of the game. It gives him a real challenge and tests his very nature, because as much as he discovers the truth behind one lie, that leads to another, and he's always playing catch-up.

Another great thing about designing a movie around lies is that you keep the audience engaged throughout, since they are aligned with the hero is trying to figure out what's real and what's a lie.

The title itself refers to a state of mind where you think you know what's going on, but you really don't. Where you dig deeper into something, and the more you discover, the more you realize you have barely scratched the surface. A big way to be put into this state of mind is through lies, and everyone in the film experiences it: Jake in various ways throughout with his investigation; Evelyn, who knows secrets about her husband and father but doesn't know what got the former killed or the extent of the power-grab by the latter; Escobar, lost at sea in his police work; the Cross daughter, who has no idea of her true identity but must know something that she can't quite articulate is dead wrong.