City of Tiny Lights

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.

Laughbly absure nonsense. Not long into this movie it was apparent the script was badly floundering. The acting is truly horrendous, and at any time someone was prone to just burst out into some PC speech totally out of context with what was previously happening. The personalities of the cast were wooden, and all attempts to boost the image of the lead as a private investigator fell flat. Completely unbleievable in the role, but he's a promising talent for sure. If you've never gotten tired of seeing someone smoke in a movie, you will after this. It's completely unnecessary. He smokes. We get it. We don't need to see it every frame of every scene. The cigarette should be mentioned in the credits, as it's the most consistent thing about this movie. The settings and scenes are appropriately dark and mysterious and add a sense of forboding menace, but it's not enough raise this sad effort beyond the level of cliche nothingness.

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.

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.

Private eyeing in present day Britain is a rough proposition. Guns are illegal, and then there's the whole immigration tension going on. Tommy Akhtar (wild eyed Riz Ahmed) is a typical, hard-drinking, tough talking, fistcuffing gumshoe with a heart of gold, trying to solve a missing Russian escort case whilst his very complicated past comes back to further cloud the perpetually rainy skies of London.

Ahmed is perfect in the lead, offering equal parts macho and empathetic soul; the gutsy dick able to take a beating, romance a good woman, and stand loyally by his loved ones.

"City of Tiny Lights" uses interesting political bents with religious, racial and drug tensions seething in the background, showing England for the explosive melting pot it truly is. Beautifully shot in wet, dark London, sparkling with Christmassy bokeh lights popping out of ominous shadows, this is one gorgeous looking film.

A little messy and cacophonic at times, this stab of celluloid is saved by a splashy, vibrant style that is pure eye candy.