15 reasons why you should watch Blade Runner right now

3. The cityscape

No film that claims to focus on dystopias and noir really satisfies without a good city behind it. There’s something in the ways that cities are depicted in science fiction that can be intensely affecting, if done well. In their way, a city can even become its own character, separate from the lifeforms that inhabit it. That’s certainly the case with Los Angeles, all the way in the year… uh, 2019. Perhaps dystopia is closer than we think.

Like in any noir film worth its salt, lighting sources are in short supply. The moodiness of the story and its characters is reflected in the limited, intermittent lighting throughout the movie. Deckard’s apartment is, at best, half-lit. The streets of Los Angeles are either dark or covered in harsh fluorescent light. Tyrell’s mansion, meanwhile, gets the benefit of softer, more natural illumination.

Speaking of the mansion, the visual landscape of the film also serves to show the class distinction in future Los Angeles. On the street level, people are crammed into tiny spaces and deal with harsh lighting and near-constant rain. The rich Tyrell, meanwhile, lives in a massive pyramid structure that looks simultaneously ancient and high-tech.

The Los Angeles of Blade Runner is both familiar and alien, with its harsh lights, crowded streets, and clear hierarchies. Even though it has no lines, the city speaks volumes.