Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" begins, literally, in darkness, as two British intelligence agents are meeting to discuss a private assignment. There are long pauses, and allusions to things that don't make any sense, and then we get two enduring images: A man felled on a cobblestone street, his arms splayed out like a swastika, and the unreadable face of a man whose boss has just resigned for him from a lifelong career. John le Carre's Cold War conspiracy thriller, beloved by many, is short on conventional action and long on recollections and revelations through deduction -- necessary on the page, but would be impossible onscreen. This film is also long, but well paced, quiet but not monotonous (and when we hear it, well scored), and retro without being cutesy. The more I think about it the more I liked it, but I went in prepared.
Gary Oldman as Smiley, the British former agent who loses his job in the opening minutes of the film but is recruited by some of his old coworkers to help root out a mole among the agents, may well be in the most taciturn role to win the Best Actor Oscar. (Unless there's a heartwarming acclaimed story about a mute that I'm forgetting. There probably is.) My favorite "Smiley moment" is when he visits the former secretary at the Circus who was let go just after him, to see if she remembered anything useful, and nothing that happens during that peculiar social call brings up a reaction in him. Nothing! The man barely blinks let alone talks, but something about his glassed-in stare prompts people to keep talking until they've given him the information they want. From what I've read it seems that his performance is a direct acknowlegment of Alec Guinness's turn in the British "Tinker, Tailor" miniseries, although not a complete recreation. I was reminded of Oldman's cop rule in the rebooted "Batman" franchise as the guy who is wiser and sadder than everyone, and what a terrible burden that can be to a man.
Along with Smiley the movie takes a special interest in Peter Guillam, played by Britishest Named Actor Ever Benedict Cumberbatch, who is a lower-ranking agent in the Circus who assists Smiley (though the book gets into why he does a little bit more than the movie). Cumberbatch is a lanky 35 but looks about 19, and between his blonde '70s shag and his weird blue eyes he looks unearthly, like a space alien, or David Bowie in his cocaine and milk phase. There's a scene where he emerges from behind a door to meet someone, and you don't see the the moment of startle on the other person's face, but you can viscerally feel it like it's happening to you. He's terrific, and I regret that people may give up on this movie based on the first hour and not see the best aspects of his performance.
Which is not to say that Oldman and Cumberbatch are the only good actors here, because this movie is like a showcase for British male actors. Toby Jones is at his sniveling best as one of the Circus top brass, Percy Alleline (who I never liked, for the record), and Colin Firth sheds some of his charm as another, Bill Haydon. If we want to talk about people disappearing into roles, let's talk about Tom Hardy, with none of the bravado of his character in "Inception," nor any of the brawn he packed on to play an MMA fighter in "Warrior," as the rogue agent who tries to expose the mole in his own way. Mark Strong is essential as Jim Prideaux, and keep an eye out for Swedish actor David Dencik who is all shifting eyes and flop sweat as Esterhase.
Purists will probably mind, and why shouldn't they? A fair amount of chronology has been shifted from the novel, with le Carre's opening scene of a schoolteacher (the forcibly retired Jim Prideaux, as it turns out) befriending a lonely kid pushed well into the first hour of the film. Even having no great love for the book (which I read about six weeks ago and was startled by the lack of action in it) I was irritated by some of the minor changes made to the book, and one major change I'm not positive of but is still confusing me a little. Here's where I think the adaptation may be a double-edged sword: While I didn't get lost in "Tinker Tailor" I was confused enough, particularly at the beginning, to wonder whether people who hadn't read the book would be lost. On the other hand, familiarity with the source material may interfere with other viewers' enjoyment. My test case (the friend I went with, familiar with neither book nor movie) reported that the first hour was confusing, and then it all fell into place for him, but your mileage may vary. (He did also point out that the trailer makes this look like more of an action thriller than it actually is... sic semper Hollywoodis?)
Yet I have to give the movie credit for its strongest scene, delivered in flashback, that I'm almost certain was not in the original material but should have been -- snippets of a Christmas party, before the secret mission, before Smiley got fired and as the doubts are setting in. I could watch an entire movie of just that party, but what I was shown was enough. Between that scene and the goosebump-inducing closing montage*, I was reminded that a great adaptation transcends the weaknesses of its source while employing its strengths to make something new and memorable. It can give you chills.
Filmbook Verdict: Read the book, then see the movie. And after you see the movie, you should listen to this great interview with Tomas Alfredson from the Filmspotting podcast.
*Note: While not the last movie I saw in theatres, there are a lot of parallels between this and the Fincher "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" I just sat through. A somewhat spoilery, disorganized list:
David Dencik has a small role in "Dragon Tattoo" and a larger role here
Symbolic emphasis placed on a woman who is hardly in the movie (Ann Smiley, George's wife, vs Harriet Vanger in "Dragon Tattoo")
Directors known for horror (Alfredson's last movie was the vampire thriller "Let The Right One In")
The yellow wash on the flashbacks, for that nostalgic tint
Device of flipping through old photos/ microfilm in order to "see" a clue from the past
Importance to the plot, and specifically the denoument, of a cabin in the woods
Character isolating himself to go back decades to uncover something [yeah, I realize that's pretty general]
Looming shadow of World War II as glory days
Surprising juxtaposition of song + scene near the end
3 hours ago
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