Tinker Tailor Soldier Snooze [MOVIE REVIEW]
Gary Oldman stars as "George Smiley" in Focus Features release of Tomas Alfredson's TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. Photo by Jack English
Director Tomas Alfredson, in his remake of John LeCarré’s Cold War masterpiece spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has delivered a film that proves that sometimes less is just, well, less. In both the novel and the previous mini-series from 1979, the plot and characters suck you into a vortex of quicksand, gasping for breath. It’s not that Alfredson doesn’t try to suck you into that quicksand, it’s just there’s nothing quick about it and the breath you gasp is from yawning.
It’s 1973 and Cold War politics and upheaval are much in play at MI-6, the British Secret Service Agency. The head of the agency, Control (John Hurt), and his chief spymaster Smiley (Gary Oldman) have been forced out. Control had been given the highly tantalizing and disturbing information that a Russian mole exists in the upper echelons of MI-6 and his attempt to discover more resulted in a deadly aborted mission, an embarrassment to the government and the agency. Replacing him at the top of the group is Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), a little weasel if there ever was one, who retains the rest of the team, Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) and Toby Esterhase (David Dencik). One of them, Control is sure, is the mole, but Downing Street is skeptical, not just of the mole but of Control himself. That will all change when word from abroad about said mole comes from an unrelated source. Too late for Control, as he suddenly dies of illnesses related to age as well as smoking too much, drinking too much and worrying too much. It will be up to Smiley to discover which of the agents, dubbed Tinker (Alleline), Tailor (Haydon), Soldier (Bland) or Poorman (Esterhase) is the spy. Smiley’s only source on the inside will be a younger agent, Peter Guillam, disdained and underestimated by the “boys.”
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by LeCarré is a complicated piece. A story of betrayal and deception set in a time of shifting political landscapes when Communism was the great threat is not easy to tell. For much of today’s audience more information rather than less is needed. The Cold War is in the history books, not on the front pages of the newspapers. Alfredson’s choice to telescope plot points and character development makes an already complex story incomprehensible. He gives us little to grasp as the characters are not developed beyond the surface – no doubt having cast to physical type, as Jones looks like a rodent, Firth is the go-to guy for muted sophistication, Hinds is the personification of taciturn and Dencik is oily. Giving character short shrift in what should be a character piece is not a good choice.
Alfredson is clearly a proponent of Jean-Luc Godard’s theory that a story should have a beginning, middle and end, just not necessarily in that order. There is enough mystery, suspense and confusion in this story that moving incomprehensibly between the past and present without any markers only muddles it further. It is likely that he wanted to remove those markers to disorient the viewer, thereby heightening the suspense. The effect he achieved, however, was one of frustration, putting the brakes on an already slow moving vehicle. No doubt that the director, and possibly also the writers, Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, were deliberately trying to give us nothing and they succeeded. “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” started slow and stayed slow. Adding to the lugubrious feel was the grainy cinematography and dark palate chosen by Hoyte van Hoytema.
Littered with the crème de la crème of British film acting, one is left only with a “what if” feeling. Gary Oldman, speaking very little and affecting an enigmatic expression, unsuccessfully seemed to be channeling Alec Guinness. Almost all of the other actors had to depend on facial expression and body movement to convey the depth of character that should have been on the page but wasn’t. Jones, Dencik and Hinds are fine, but only John Hurt and Colin Firth seem to have mastered the technique of revealing what’s in the soul through the eyes. Mark Strong as Prideaux, agent provocateur and central to the critical betrayal that sets everything in motion, is an excellent actor hampered by a script that favored obfuscation over mystery. That being said, Benedict Cumberbatch, playing Smiley’s aide Peter Guillam, is a standout whose air of mystery is enhanced by his master spy demeanor. Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr is highly successful in portraying a roué wanting to be more than a seductive agent in the field. Even given little to do with a character whose importance is actually quite critical but easily missed, the brilliant comedian Kathy Burke as Connie Sachs brings a warmth and intelligence that is sorely needed. Topping the list, though, is the brilliant John Hurt whose face is a roadmap of a life that played out long ago and a voice full of anger, compassion, loyalty and danger. In an earlier era he should have played Smiley… but in that earlier era, Alec Guinness did and this is not a film to make you forget that.
If I were to apply a rating system to this film, it wouldn’t be stars or thumbs. It would have to be four elbows, as in the number of times I had to elbow my husband to wake him up during the movie. ER
Opening Friday, December 9 at the ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark in West L.A.