Released in September last year in the UK and it takes SIX MONTHS to get to Japan, yet Battleship arrives seemingly everywhere at once! Just one of the many injustices Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy must endure. Another would be the notion that films like The Artist and Hugo are better than it (according to assorted Awards ceremonies recently past). Piffle and tommy-rot!
After reading the book years ago and watching the BBC series with Alec Guiness as Smiley, and enjoying both, I approached this new film with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. And I think it needs to be stated that the book, the TV show and the film are like kids with the same father but different mothers. They all come from the same seed but have quite noticeable differences. Le Carre himself apparently told Tomas Alfredson to do what he liked with the film, saying something along the lines of, "If you fuck up the film, the book will still be good". Well, Alfredson certainly didn't fuck up the film.
Tinker Tailor... starts quite slowly, even morosely, as it builds the picture of 'The Circus', a representation of MI6, and the goings-on therein. This office building reeks of 1970s biege and musty cigarette smoke. Top drawer set design. The music is unobtrusive, delicate and tension-building (especially in the scene where Guillam is clandestinely poking around the archives department). The song at the end ("La Mer" the French original of "Beyond the Sea") is a surprise choice but really packs a punch. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is just right, not too flashy but not too staid either, full of obscured characters and glimpsed views. The colour scheme meshes nicely with the drab sets too.
But overall, I guess it's an actor's piece and nobody here disappoints. From stalwarts like John Hurt to the younger generation of Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch, all shine. Gary Oldman is quietly brilliant and how he lost out on a Oscar to the gurning chump from The Artist shows what a sad state those awards are in. My pick of the cast though, would have to be a toss-up between Hardy's Ricki Tarr and Cumberbatch's Peter Guillam. They've both been very good before but here they grow into their own. One scene where Hardy is explaining his backstory to Smiley had me rivetted. That sequence in Turkey may in fact be the best in the film - one of many 'seat edgers'.
Some folk may grumble that Alfredson has taken too many liberties with the film, changing locations, altering characters, etc, but for me, none of these tweaks detracted from the story in any way. They made it a film to stand alone and be appreciated all the more.
Can't wait for The Honourable Schoolboy or Smiley's People.
