Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Today Sam and I went to see the 2011 adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 Cold War novel. I was pretty sleepy as the trailers rolled one by one across the screen, and having heard that the film was a slow, thoughtful one I was worried that I would doze off and my £6.40 would not be well spent. For the first 15 to 20 minutes my fears were realised. Not because the opening sequences were boring, but because they were very detailed, sedate and, yes, indisputably slow. If you're prepared for a fair amount of concentrating hard then this film is an incredibly entertaining and enjoyable 127 minutes.

George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is an old dog in the British Intelligence service and is cast out with his boss and friend 'Control' (John Hurt). After the death of Control, Smiley soon finds himself back in the thick of it, searching for a mole, one of a select group of men high up in the 'circus'. The conspiracy sends Smiley into tangled web of cover-ups that are slowly explained. The film is a patchwork of flash backs, flicking between the past and present every couple of scenes; the most reliable map references being whether or not Control is alive, and Smiley's new (or old) glasses. The structure of the narrative results in an audience fluctuating between different theories on a regular basis. The level of detail in the filming means that there is too much for one person to notice in one viewing and in all honesty, I am going to need to read the book or watch the film again to construct the full picture in a satisfactory way. But that is possibly the most successful element of the film, the story is told in such a way that as the credits roll a person has been able to hang onto the narrative most of the way through, but is still left with an impression of how intricate the conspiracy was - and so how brilliant Smiley is. This contrasts with a decent majority of spy orientated films where once the mystery has been solved it seems so obvious and that given the same time and clues anyone could have worked it out. Whilst I'm sure that this success must be attributed to Carré above Bridget O'Conner and Peter Staughan (screenplay), it is nonetheless an incredibly successful feat in story telling through the medium of film.

Oldman and Hurt were joined by a diverse crowed of acclaimed talent; Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Toby Jones and Tom Hardy. Not one of these big names overpowered their characters, however I was unimpressed with Firth's performance. Having loved him in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice and, of course, The King's Speech, I expected more, but in reality I struggled to distinguish what any particular facial express was intended to display and was overall unconvinced by his portrayal of Bill Haydon.

Colin Firth and feeling sleepy aside, this film was brilliant, and at £6.40 with a student card, it was well worth a view.

Coming Soon? This is the bit where I rate the trailers that I saw...
The Three Musketeers (tbc)(12 October)
This film looks absolutely ridiculous; massive gelled up hair styles, matrix style fighting scenes and from what I can see there's a flying wooden square rigger. It's clear from the trailer that this is not a period drama, but at the same time it looks kind of fun. Trailer Rating: ***
The Debt (15)(30 September)
Judging by the trailer, this film seems to be half told in retrospect and then continued in the present day. It's impossible to tell how linear the film would be, but it promises to be a complex story, possibly one to rival Tinker Tailor. Based upon a holocaust conspiracy, I was slightly uneasy that it seemed that the story would imagine some kind of redeeming truth to the Nazi medical experiments, but I won't condemn the film before I've watched it, this could be a brilliant film. Trailer Rating: *****
Killer Elite (15)(23 September)
Throughout this trailer I witnessed endless fighting scenes and explosions, but I have no idea what the story line is. Full of big names - Jason Stratham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro - but it really doesn't seem to be full of much else... Trailer Rating: *
Warrior (12A)(23 September)
This is one of those trailers that seems to tell you the whole storyline, leaving only the result of the final fight to be revealed. Based upon wrestling (rather than boxing, The Fighter , 2010) and specifically the story of two brothers, a war hero and a physics teacher. Guess what, it's the two brothers in the final! Is it possible that fighting films are going to replace dancing films as the biggest craze for film makers, with storylines that will get increasingly predictable? Trailer Rating: ***
The Awakening (tbc)(11 November)
The beginning of this trailer had me hooked. In the first 30 seconds of footage the film seems to morph between Victorian Gothic, psychological thriller and eventually an all out horror. Confession time, I closed my eyes after seeing one freaky photograph... I don't do horror. But, if you have the gut for it, this film has the potential to be a really great horror film, with a handful of freaky but bucketfuls of decent storyline. Trailer Rating: ****
Drive (18)(23 September)
This trailer, quite frankly, was just confusing. From this one trailer I'm imagining a film which is some bizarre hybrid between a fun Hollywood action with a bit of romance and a brutal hard-edged crime drama. The pinnacle of my confusion was at a point in the trailer when a quote describing the film as 'blood pumping' appeared on screen between footage of brutality, all to the soundtrack of a rather cheery orchestral piece. I just don't really know what a person could expect from this film. However, the full-of-praise quotes flashing across the screen suggest that the film might just be better than the trailer makes it out to be. Trailer Rating: **