Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is like a chess game. It is a slow, patient back and forth between a wide range of character's before it eventually makes its final move ... and if you didn't pay attention you probably won't be up with the film in that moment. It is based on the famous 1974 spy novel by John le Carré that I still have not read. But I think you will enjoy this more if you did.

The film stars Gary Oldman in one of the best, most controlled performances of the year. As the restrained MI6 spy agent George Smiley he made a life hiding in the shadows, being invisible and untraceable. It is a tough job. Not all agents can deal with the isolation. Oldman is accompanied by an impressive cast including Colin Firth, John Hurt and Tom Hardy.

The basic story is that in times of the cold war there is a soviet agent who has infiltrated the MI6 and made it to a quite influential position. Smiley is assigned to find and eliminate the mole.

Now that sounds simpler than it is. Actually it was kind of hard for me to keep up with the complicated plot. As I said I have not read the book and it was hard to remember all the characters and their relations. Thus it sadly felt like there was quite a distance there and I had a hard time to get really caught up in the picture. But maybe that is also part of the game. Who is who? What intentions do they have? And who can you trust?

There are a lot of suspects in course of the investigations and even more details and hints to consider.
In flashbacks there is a conflict involving Smiley's wife and internal affairs with collegues. We are told of backstories of former missions that bring in a lot of other players in the game. And dead people may not be so dead in the end. All in all it is a story of high complexity, a huge web of uncertainty and suspicion and possibilities.

The film creates a very tense atmosphere of suspense and paranoia as the cards are played out. It does not rely on big moments of action or spectacle. It is quiet, subtle and cold. But it is even more effective that way as it keeps you guessing and doesn't point out the highlights with a big explosion but rather with silent but striking revelations.

Aside from the espionage going on I think this is really a character piece about these agents who live their lives unknown and alone in dark apartments filled with bitterness. The movie's good sense of time, place and mood also helps to establish the setting. Like the expressions on the agents' poker faces the scenery is bleak and lacks joy and colour.

But - talking about colors - the red line is not easy to trace here. Still I think the swedish director Tomas Alfredson ("Let the right one in") did a good job.

It is a good film but with reservations that shows once more that it is not an easy undertaking to tranfer a book to the screen. There exists a five hour mini series based on the same book. I have not seen it but it may certainly be a little more illuminating at times than this compressed version. Maybe read the book before you go see it.

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" recieved three Oscar nominations, one for the score, one for Gary Oldman and one for the screenplay by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan. In none of these categories it has quite a chance to win though. Oldman would of course equally much deserve it as his competetors but it would be an upset if he won tomorrow evening.

(For all my predictions and comments on the Oscars see my next post).