Chit Chat
Welcome to Live View – Take the tour to learn more
Start Tour
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
06 Apr 18
21:18
Joined:
Date Joined:
05 Apr 06
New series. A dead woman is recovered at Bulkya Docks, on the border between Beszel and Ul Qoma - two cities with a dangerous and volatile relationship. The body was witnessed being dumped on the wasteland by a yellow van, and it is initially presumed the victim must have been a prostitute. Investigations such as this are run of the mill for Inspector Tyador Borlu, but he is surprised by the similarities to an old case that still haunts him. Thriller based on the novel by China Mieville, starring David Morrissey, Mandeep Dhillon, Lara Pulver and Ron Cook
Show More
Where we are is not locatable on any map. Although two maps, one placed on top of the other, then held up to the light, might be of some help. This is The City and the City, a four-part adaptation of China Miéville’s award-winning, sci-fi/detective-fiction hybrid that began on BBC Two last night. It’s about the murder investigation that ensues when a foreign exchange student turns up dead in the fictional European city of Besźel. Or is that the fictional European city of Ul Qoma? Or perhaps both at the same time?
Both cities exist in the same physical space, but remain distinct because citizens of one are taught from childhood to “unsee” the people, buildings and events of the other. Anyone caught crossing these psychological borders, or “breaching”, risks punishment from a merciless and all-powerful authority, confusingly referred to as “Breach”.
In this shadowy, chimeric place, the square-shouldered David Morrissey is an almost comically solid presence as Inspector Tyador Borlú. He has a weakness for the company of his wife (Sherlock’s Lara Pulver playing another mysterious woman), but is an otherwise gruff, by-the-book cop, dogged in his pursuit of justice. Borlú? Get caught breaching in the disputed zone? Don’t be so bloody daft!
And if such straight talk offends, best get used to it now, because Borlú’s sidekick Constable Corwi (Mandeep Dhillon) swears like a Sex Pistol let loose on live television. Suspects and superior officers alike get pelted with f-bombs in her presence; it’s kind of her thing. Happily, previews suggest there’s a more promising The Bridge-style team-up with Borlú’s Ul Qoman opposite number in the next episode. More decorous is the Beszélian extreme crime squad boss, Commissar Gadlem (Ron Cook). His thing is a thick moustache and Deirdre Barlow glasses combo, which commands respect even among this macho crowd.
David Morrissey as Tyador Borlú and Mandeep Dhillon as Lizbyet Corwi in The City and the City.
Never mind the Sex Pistols … David Morrissey as Tyador Borlú and Mandeep Dhillon as Lizbyet Corwi. Photograph: Sally Law/BBC/Mammoth Screen
Yep, the 1970s Istanbul look is very “in” in Besźel. Here, the propaganda flyers feature umlauts and cedillas, the soft furnishings are various shades of orange and brown and everyone smokes indoors. This post-Soviet exoticism is one way the series attempts to realise the novel’s seemingly unfilmable premise, rendering the coexistent unseen city as blurry images at the edge of the frame.
Miéville’s metaphor for modern life remains clear, however. Don’t we all habitually “unsee” various examples of the unpleasantly seedy or inconveniently needy on our way from A to B? Channel 4’s The Handmaid’s Tale has already proved it’s possible to translate a richly imagined dystopia from page to small screen, but so far, this flat-footed adaptation has apparently been held up at the border.
Both cities exist in the same physical space, but remain distinct because citizens of one are taught from childhood to “unsee” the people, buildings and events of the other. Anyone caught crossing these psychological borders, or “breaching”, risks punishment from a merciless and all-powerful authority, confusingly referred to as “Breach”.
In this shadowy, chimeric place, the square-shouldered David Morrissey is an almost comically solid presence as Inspector Tyador Borlú. He has a weakness for the company of his wife (Sherlock’s Lara Pulver playing another mysterious woman), but is an otherwise gruff, by-the-book cop, dogged in his pursuit of justice. Borlú? Get caught breaching in the disputed zone? Don’t be so bloody daft!
And if such straight talk offends, best get used to it now, because Borlú’s sidekick Constable Corwi (Mandeep Dhillon) swears like a Sex Pistol let loose on live television. Suspects and superior officers alike get pelted with f-bombs in her presence; it’s kind of her thing. Happily, previews suggest there’s a more promising The Bridge-style team-up with Borlú’s Ul Qoman opposite number in the next episode. More decorous is the Beszélian extreme crime squad boss, Commissar Gadlem (Ron Cook). His thing is a thick moustache and Deirdre Barlow glasses combo, which commands respect even among this macho crowd.
David Morrissey as Tyador Borlú and Mandeep Dhillon as Lizbyet Corwi in The City and the City.
Never mind the Sex Pistols … David Morrissey as Tyador Borlú and Mandeep Dhillon as Lizbyet Corwi. Photograph: Sally Law/BBC/Mammoth Screen
Yep, the 1970s Istanbul look is very “in” in Besźel. Here, the propaganda flyers feature umlauts and cedillas, the soft furnishings are various shades of orange and brown and everyone smokes indoors. This post-Soviet exoticism is one way the series attempts to realise the novel’s seemingly unfilmable premise, rendering the coexistent unseen city as blurry images at the edge of the frame.
Miéville’s metaphor for modern life remains clear, however. Don’t we all habitually “unsee” various examples of the unpleasantly seedy or inconveniently needy on our way from A to B? Channel 4’s The Handmaid’s Tale has already proved it’s possible to translate a richly imagined dystopia from page to small screen, but so far, this flat-footed adaptation has apparently been held up at the border.
Post Your Reply
Please login to post a reply.
Wonder
Instance ID: 13539