Perhaps technically a TV series or serialized movie, The City and The City (2018) is unusual in its adherence to a lack of omniscient viewpoint throughout the first half (two episodes, four total), only slacking its rigidity in the second half to reveal certain important details.
This is the story of cop Tyador Borlu of the city Besźel, who has been assigned the murder of Mahalia Geary. In his backstory is the unsolved disappearance of his wife, Dr Katrynia Perla, a scholar, who has hidden connections to Mahalia. His pursuit of the truth, as assisted by Constable Corwi, takes him to Detective Dhatt of the city of Ul Qoma.
Or perhaps it doesn’t.
Between the central conceit of the story, on which I shan’t elaborate, and the flashback-heavy nature of the narrative, this is a tale requiring close attention, and a partner with whom to cross-reference the tale; we had to stop from time to time just to straighten out who was in what part of the story.
It was quite invigorating.
But there are enough holes, such as missing character motivations, to lessen the satisfaction of the story. It’s not overwhelming, and stories that leave open questions can be the best if the questions are those of morality: If that were me, would I have done that? But when they’re along the lines of Why did that character do that, it’s nonsense? then there may be fractures in the story structure.
But the positives of this story far outweigh the negatives. Simply as a brain exercise it’s worth the time; as a possible peek into the future, it’s thought-provoking.
Recommended.
