When I started thinking about what I wanted to say about Chinatown, I kept coming back to one thought: someday someone is going to try to remake this movie. And the more I thought about it, the more I understood what a masterpiece Chinatown really is.

I have no problem with remakes. If someone remakes Chinatown, I’m not going to throw a fit. I’m just going to feel sorry for them. Because usually when Hollywood remakes a well-known property they try to get their arms around the core of the story and then do their own thing with it.

And the problem is, the story of Chinatown isn’t the core strength of the movie. It isn’t a bad story. It’s clean and efficient and compelling; it says what it wants to say plainly and perfectly.

But all the same this isn’t a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, or an action movie that will have you standing up and cheering. This is a hard boiled detective story that follows one clue to the next, in the same way that a million other mysteries, good and bad, have done before.

The root of the whole affair is in land and water, and powerful men controlling the latter to gobble up more of the former. Into this plot wanders J. J. Gittes, a hapless detective who has been used as a pawn by one of these powerful men and wants to understand why.

Of course the plot sounds a little familiar. It’s cliched now. It was cliched back in 1974. There aren’t even any winks or nods to the audience, no, “Yes, we know you’ve seen all this before,” moments.

And yet…

Chinatown recently ranked number 12 on the BBC’s poll of critics for the greatest American films of all time. And it deserves to be there.

Because the thing that makes Chinatown really and truly great, the thing that makes it almost impossible to remake “properly” is art.

That might sound like an overly highbrow thing to say, but holy crap people look at this movie. It’s gorgeous. It’s beyond gorgeous. It’s a master class in the art of filmmaking. The lighting, the framing, the colors, it’s all handled perfectly.

Roman Polanski is at the height of his considerable powers here. He’s not showing off. There are no gimmicks, no tricks. Just good old-fashioned film-making done right.

There’s not a frame out of place, not a shot that doesn’t feel purposeful and beautiful at the same time.

Chinatown doesn’t wink at the camera because it doesn’t need to. It isn’t deconstructing the other detective movies; it’s putting them in their place.

So you can remake Chinatown. You can throw the Mona Lisa on a copier. You can 3d print your own replica of Michelangelo’a David. It might look the same. But it won’t be art.