Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is such a slow deliberate plod through the labyrinth of John Le Carre's spy novel that I am not surprised it had little popular impact. It has a respectable critical reception and a good art house take at the till, but it got lost in the holiday shuffle for me. What excited me about the film, more so in retrospect than when I was watching it, were Alfredson's deft visual touches that convey his spies search through a maze of intrigue where all they are fated to find is their own mendacity. Alfredson frames his figures in corridors, various lifts, cells and even a chicken wire fence to show them being trapped by their own vanity and venality. 

Alfredson captures the rancid, backbiting milieu of British intelligence. The anti-hero, Smiley, is the most successful agent because he is the least egotistical and most dispassionate. He climbs the greasy pole of success through his talents not any desire for plaudits or gain. He emerges triumphant in the end and sits at the beating heart of MI6: a garish, orange padded room for top-level conferences that reeks of the early 1970s. I prefer Oldman to Alec Guinness as Smiley. Even in his most drab roles, Guinness always shows glimmers of sly humor. Smiley is a grey company man to the bone and Oldman captures this so well it helps rob the movie of dynamism. 

Unfortunately, the film telegraphs the identity of the mole by casting the most recognizable actor as said mole which thwarts ant sense of revelation and diminishes some of the suspense. Also, one of the advantages of the mini-series format is that it gives more time and space to investigate the back stories of its characters. This film has a stunning cast, a who's who of white UK actors, most notable is Tom Hardy getting a rare chance to show vulnerability. This Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an astringent film that seems daunting in its impenetrability, but will repay multiple views more than most. (9/24/17)