City of Tiny Lights (2016) Reviews

• London Noir

  karinrjeffrey2017-08-02

  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.

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• Incomprehensible

  rick-morgan90632017-05-11

  There appears to be something wrong with the sound mixing, perhaps a post production goof but this film is very hard to follow as the dialogue is lost in the background noise. I might add that I am both British and used to London and regional brit accents, yet I still struggled, In the interests of full disclosure, I never made it to the end of the film due to said issues, so my low score reflects my dissatisfaction with the audio quality. Learn to lip-read, or avoid

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• TERRIBLE audio mixing

  andrew-marks592017-01-25

  From what I actually did pick up on from the movie, the story was pretty interesting and Riz Ahmed did a pretty good job. It was incredibly hard to understand what everybody in the movie were saying, the background noise was too loud, the music was too loud, and the heavy accents at low volumes are hard to understand if you're not familiar with how they speak in England. I don't think they need to change their voices or anything, it's how they speak and I totally respect that, it was just hard to understand for me and most of the audience at my screening. My suggestion: watch it with subtitles when it releases on Blu-Ray and DVD. Seen at TIFF 2016.

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• Decent effort, good mood piece.

  gtworld2017-07-30

  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?

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• mumbled dialogue and loud soundtrack make for an incomprehensible film

  VoyagerMN19862017-07-26

  I get that mumbling dialogue is somehow a thing now. But combined with the terrible sound mixing and overbearing music this film is incomprehensible. Yes, I am a "yank", but I spent 18 months in the UK so I usually don't have a hard time with London accents. But really this film comes off as a music video or advert for the sound track, the dialogue is pretty much pointless.

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