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The City and The City A BBC mini-series based on China Mieville's novel

#1 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 07:08 PM

On Monday I got a chance to preview the BBC's adaptation of China Mieville's 2009 novel THE CITY AND THE CITY, about a murder which takes place in two cities which cohabit the same spot in space/time. The first episode was excellent. They nailed the weird atmosphere of the novel brilliantly and David Morrissey was great, as he is in everything. The production value was also incredible (given it was filmed in Liverpool and Manchester, not a remote corner of Eastern Europe) and they sold the idea of the two cities which are in the same place but not really well, although the exposition at the start to get the idea across was a bit clunking. Once they got over that, it was much better.

The 4-part series is due to air next month in the UK. It's unclear who'll be handling the international distribution.

This post has been edited by Werthead: 14 March 2018 - 07:10 PM

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#2 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 07:51 PM

Excellent.







....can we have a KRAKEN adaptation now please squid thanks?
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#3 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 09:13 PM

I think this works better as a TV show than it does as a book, especially with the visual aspects.
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#4 User is offline   Morgoth 

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Posted 15 March 2018 - 09:36 AM

View PostThe Swampfather, on 14 March 2018 - 07:58 PM, said:

Have yet to read a single book.


You should start! Reading is good for the soul.
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#5 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 28 March 2018 - 06:38 PM

Trailers!

And an airdate. This starts on Friday 6 April (that's a week on Friday!) on BBC2.

This post has been edited by Werthead: 28 March 2018 - 07:28 PM

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"Try standing out in a winter storm all night and see how tough you are. Start with that. Then go into a bar and pick a fight and see how tough you are. And then go home and break crockery over your head. Start with those three and you'll be good to go."
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#6 User is offline   stone monkey 

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Posted 28 March 2018 - 07:10 PM

It's going to be a bit weird seeing places I know in this. And I do think the irony of using Liverpool and Manchester, a pair of cities with a longstanding rivalry with each other (presumably one for each of the two cities), is probably not lost on those making the show.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 28 March 2018 - 07:12 PM

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#7 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 28 March 2018 - 07:29 PM

View Poststone monkey, on 28 March 2018 - 07:10 PM, said:

It's going to be a bit weird seeing places I know in this. And I do think the irony of using Liverpool and Manchester, a pair of cities with a longstanding rivalry with each other (presumably one for each of the two cities), is probably not lost on those making the show.


It wasn't, to the point where they've refused to say which real cities stood in for which fictional cities in case of kickstarting that old rivalry again.
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"Try standing out in a winter storm all night and see how tough you are. Start with that. Then go into a bar and pick a fight and see how tough you are. And then go home and break crockery over your head. Start with those three and you'll be good to go."
- Bruce Campbell on how to be as cool as he is
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#8 User is offline   polishgenius 

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Posted 29 March 2018 - 07:05 PM

View PostWerthead, on 28 March 2018 - 07:29 PM, said:

View Poststone monkey, on 28 March 2018 - 07:10 PM, said:

It's going to be a bit weird seeing places I know in this. And I do think the irony of using Liverpool and Manchester, a pair of cities with a longstanding rivalry with each other (presumably one for each of the two cities), is probably not lost on those making the show.


It wasn't, to the point where they've refused to say which real cities stood in for which fictional cities in case of kickstarting that old rivalry again.



That seems a bit odd given that anyone who's ever been to Liverpool or Manchester is going to be able to work out which is which in seconds?
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#9 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 05 April 2018 - 09:51 PM

View Postpolishgenius, on 29 March 2018 - 07:05 PM, said:

View PostWerthead, on 28 March 2018 - 07:29 PM, said:

View Poststone monkey, on 28 March 2018 - 07:10 PM, said:

It's going to be a bit weird seeing places I know in this. And I do think the irony of using Liverpool and Manchester, a pair of cities with a longstanding rivalry with each other (presumably one for each of the two cities), is probably not lost on those making the show.


It wasn't, to the point where they've refused to say which real cities stood in for which fictional cities in case of kickstarting that old rivalry again.



That seems a bit odd given that anyone who's ever been to Liverpool or Manchester is going to be able to work out which is which in seconds?


That's what I thought, I think they must have meant for overseas viewers. Some areas are also standing in for both cities (a big square in Manchester was shot for both, apparently).
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"Try standing out in a winter storm all night and see how tough you are. Start with that. Then go into a bar and pick a fight and see how tough you are. And then go home and break crockery over your head. Start with those three and you'll be good to go."
- Bruce Campbell on how to be as cool as he is
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#10 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 05 April 2018 - 09:52 PM

Also, this starts tomorrow evening, as a reminder.
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"Try standing out in a winter storm all night and see how tough you are. Start with that. Then go into a bar and pick a fight and see how tough you are. And then go home and break crockery over your head. Start with those three and you'll be good to go."
- Bruce Campbell on how to be as cool as he is
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#11 User is offline   Werthead 

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 12:48 PM

They've also released all 4 episodes on the iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.u...episodes/player
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"Try standing out in a winter storm all night and see how tough you are. Start with that. Then go into a bar and pick a fight and see how tough you are. And then go home and break crockery over your head. Start with those three and you'll be good to go."
- Bruce Campbell on how to be as cool as he is
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#12 User is offline   stone monkey 

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Posted 10 April 2018 - 08:26 PM

Was fun. The visual aspect - blurring out the unseen city was pretty well done. And there was a great sense of disorientation.

They mixed and matched the cities fairly well (both real and imaginary); but a number of the locations really jumped out of me, as I pass some of them every day on my commute to work. And I have also spent some time in the location used for the cities' Town Hall/Border thingy - it's in the centre of Liverpool and there's a cool flea market there. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as spotting the Liverpool & Manchester locations doubling for New York in Captain America: The First Avenger, though. I think foreign viewers, and those UK people who have never been to Liverpool or Manchester (i.e. most of them), won't have a problem.

The voiceover was a tad annoying, though - it was as if they didn't trust the viewer to be able to follow the story on their own - and
Spoiler
was, as this kind of thing usually is imo, a very lazy screenwriter's shortcut.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 10 April 2018 - 08:31 PM

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. … So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. Bertrand Russell
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