SPEC D: Pete Travis. UK. 107 min. Sep 15, 9 pm Ryerson Sep 16, 6:15 pm Hot Docs Cinema Sep 18, 9:45 am Scotiabank 2. Rating: NNN
The Night Of’s Riz Ahmed goes all Philip Marlowe as Tommy Akhtar, a British private dick on a missing person case who stumbles into shady businessmen, Islamic fundamentalists and terrorist threats.
Ahmed gives a stellar, attentive performance, his eyes darting about, working overtime to discreetly catch the details in every scene. It’s easy to miss the meticulousness of his work, which can be drowned out by excessive stylistic tics (staggered frames, blinding neon lights) and a convoluted plot that has a few too many holes.
But the movie effectively uses the noir genre to investigate London’s multicultural rift. Everyone here is just trying to carve out their own tiny piece of a sardine-can metropolis, sometimes violently.
