City of Tiny Lights

A contemporary hard boiled private detective neo noir thriller set in London.

The voiceover is provided by Tommy Akhtar (Riz Ahmed) looking after his cricket mad dad (Roshan Seth.) He is a hard drinking, chain smoking rather dinghy private eye in London.

A prostitute called Melody (Cush Jumbo) hires him to find fellow prostitute Natasha who has gone missing after going off with a new client. Tommy finds the client dead in a hotel room.

As Tommy delves deeper he comes across an old friend, who is now a wealthy property developer, trying to take the drug riddled estates, upmarket. The dead client was an associate of this developer. Tommy soon finds the security services sniffing around him. The dead man was also hanging around an imam who might be radicalising the youth, he certainly has a little gang who is chasing away drug dealers.

As the film goes on, Tommy recalls his past, 20 years ago when he fancied his best mate's girl Shelley (Billie Piper.) We gather his mate died but he sees Shelley again who is now a single mother and both rekindle their affections for each other.

There is nothing too original about City of Tiny Lights, we can sort of guess who will turn out to be the culprit. It all feels a little bleak and jagged. The movie needed more humour and should had been more offbeat. Albert Finney got it right in Stephen Frears 'Gumshoe' back in 1971.

Riz Ahmed is the standout in this grimy yet stylish neo noir that is let down by some dodgy camerawork and an uninteresting story.

Persevered with it till the end but it was a very thin plot and not very exciting.

Can't really blame the quite good cast and I agree with some other reviewers that sound quality was very poor.

First, for the bad sound review, watch it in a theater or on a good streaming site. If you're using Kodi, make sure you know how to adjust the sound. I saw it while Jillian Michaels was telling me to walk faster on my treadmill and I got every word. The sound mix is just fine, thank you. Next, the mood is right out of Raymond Chandler, complete with hard, tough observations that sound as if they're from the '40s. Put that in modern London with first gen Brits and it kind of fits, strange but true. The hero drinks Wild Turkey straight, too.

The teen angst parts are good, they fit with the present story and are well acted. Overall, the film is good entertainment and has a wonderful multi-cultural mix. Who knew cricket had so many insights into life?

I really enjoyed this British take on the noir genre. It had a sensitive and moving performance by Riz Ahmed as a troubled PI. The plot, like all good noir, is satisfyingly layered. In addition to being an excellent whodunit, it addresses Islamophobia, the treatment of immigrants and the growing feeling that there are hidden agendas that affect our everyday lives. Not high budget or flashy but very well done. Highly recommended.