Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and celebrity encounters
And then last night happened. First there was the screening of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the classic there's-a-mole-among-the-spies thriller (says she who only knew of it because of a Garak reference in DS9) which in this incarnation focuses on character relationships over action, and then there was the Q&A with Gary Oldman and director Tomas Alfredson, who'd previously done the beautiful Let the Right One In.
After walking halfway to the Metro with my coworker afterwards, I… may have turned around, gone back into the theater, and waited in line for an autograph and photo. Because-Gary Oldman! Light of my film-crushes life! One of the first actors whose oeuvre I plowed through as a teenager, overcome with adoration.
More on that in a second. First: It was an overall enjoyable movie.
The short pitch: [SPOILERS!] Benedict Cumberbatch has a boyfriend, Mark Strong is in love with Colin Firth, Firth has an offscreen girlfriend and boy toy, Tom Hardy is young and naïve and sympathetic and even cries a little, and seasoned-but-recently-discharged spy Gary Oldman kicks ass by doing research and manipulating people as needed to serve and save his country. And the characters have actual plots and motivations besides all that. Also, they are spies. If you like spies. I could take or leave them, but enjoyed them here. [END OF SPOILERS]
The longer pitch: Excellent performances from an all-star cast. I expect fandom will have a small seizure when it's released more widely. I mean, look who's in it:
My biggest complaint editing-wise is that the beginning cut too quickly among scenes, so it was hard to latch onto any one character's thread and grasp what was happening for a while, but at about the halfway mark, it settled into itself. After that, the puzzle driving the story was engaging. It also seemed a bit blurry-likely just a flaw with the projection-and it was filmed in that grainy, washed-out bluish-gray style so beloved by espionage films taking place during the Cold War. I haven't read Le Carré's books, so I don't know how fans will react to the condensed script or the portrayals, especially as compared to the previous British miniseries that some apparently consider a definitive adaptation, but from the sound of it, people were impressed with the elegance of the screenplay.
A few things came up in the Q&A that really illuminated some of what was enjoyable about the movie. First, Alfredson said he and his team drew out the homosexual subtext between many of the characters and added some that wasn't in the books, such as by giving one of the main characters a live-in male partner. The sexual attraction was palpable between one particular pair of characters throughout the film, coming to a complicated climax (not literally) in the final shots. This is the kind of subtext that viewers are not imagining; it's driving part of the plot. There were also a ton of slashable relationships that fandom might seize upon: Mark Strong/Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch/Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman/John Hurt, John Hurt/Mark Strong, John Hurt/character whose name I didn't catch, enemy spies/Mark Strong noncon, scary "good guy" spies/Benedict Cumberbatch dubcon/noncon, Gary Oldman/Colin Firth hate!sex… And it's primed for fic, because the relationships were well-done but left open due to the constraints of the script.
But no, seriously, Alfredson talked about how spy circles were rampantly gay in that era, how men were literally seduced into the profession, but how those relationships were not allowed to be out in the open because of the threat of blackmail. Which feeds into a theme of the film that a questioner from the audience brought up in connection to Let the Right One In: how both films have a heavy sense of loneliness and disconnection. By the end, we're looking at a collection of men most of whom can't be with the people they love, whether they're women or other men, whether they're in the profession or outside, whether they're compatriots or behind the Iron Curtain, and who have to choose their friends and mentors/mentees carefully. A wrong choice, and you end up shot. A right choice, and sometimes you end up shot anyway. Or your loved one does.
(There was even a bespectacled loner schoolboy character being groomed for the spy business who could be compared to the main character from Let the Right One In. Strange that Alfredson claimed not to see connections like that from one project to the next.)
Something I liked without realizing it until another questioner brought it up was the focus on the characters and their relationships over action sequences. There were no car chases or extended shoot-outs as the investigation into the conspiracy proceeded. There was graphic violence, to be sure, but it took a back seat to the rest, and when it happened it had impact on the characters and on the audience. (Ha, pun.) Alfredson mentioned the value of silence in film and television over dialogue and explosions; how scenes with one or two lines and a look from one character to another can achieve as much as a page of exposition, and how a few moments of silence allow viewers to digest what's been happening. He considers his audience adults, he said, who can piece together what's going on if they're given the space to. Oldman chimed in that these occasional long shots of his character, Smiley, being contemplative allow the audience to take what they've seen over the past two hours and fill his head with their conclusions and interpretations.
One more thing and we're done. It's spoilery for Smiley's character and Tom Hardy's plot, so read at your discretion. Alfredson said he thinks Smiley is a romantic at heart, and Oldman nodded. Despite the above-mentioned themes of loneliness and the unhappy endings going on all around him, despite his own marriage troubles and the way an enemy was able to use that against him, Smiley believes in romance. It's interesting to think about that in the context of what he does to Tom Hardy's character, Ricki, which is to lie to him about his girlfriend still being alive so Ricki will do a dangerous job for him without taking the sort of unnecessary risks that come from being in grief. It's a practical decision, not a compassionate one. It's the kind of decision Smiley makes at least twice more in the movie. Once is when he withholds (unrelated) information from Peter before sending him to MI-6 headquarters on another risky assignment; Peter knows the assignment is risky and takes it anyway, but he's at first hurt when he discovers the secret-or, to be fair, when Smiley immediately reveals the secret-then comes around to the understanding that that was how it had to happen, in case he was caught. The other time is when Smiley blackmails a fellow spy into divulging confidential information. Smiley's not evil, he's just willing to use whoever he needs to use for the sake of England and the bigger picture. The thing with Ricki, maybe, is that Smiley sees himself in him-young and romantic, unaware of the heartbreak headed his way, needing a dose of reality-and just postponing knowledge of that reality long enough to get an important performance out of him. One that's larger than either of them.
Tom Hardy was great, by the way. Playing a familiar character for him, like Handsome Bob mixed with Eames: youngish, scruffy, disreputable, highly and effortlessly competent, squishy at the core. A bit of a forger, too, with his various identities; "I played a businessman having a holiday romance." Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I've never seen as Sherlock except in some vids, was also excellent in one of the leading roles, even with his strange blond highlights. Mark Strong had a strong (ha) performance, largely thanks to an expressive face and body language, and again despite the retro hair. Colin Firth, always enjoyable. Gary Oldman led the cast with confidence but without stealing the show. Etc. Actually, he said it was nice to play a role where he was allowed to have an internal life instead of being asked to incarnate his emotions with frantic energy (see for reference: The Fifth Element and Red Riding Hood). He said Smiley is a study in economy of energy; he calmly opens a car window for a bee to get out, but he only opens it that much.
So, that was interesting, and worth seeing a second time to pick up on more details and examine the writing and some of what came up during that discussion. (Gary Oldman also talked about how the hardest part for him is doing these tours and having to analyze what comes intuitively. What was he thinking in that last scene, someone once wanted to know; he said he told them he was thinking about walking into the frame at the right moment, looking at a table of people who weren't there, and where the camera was. He said he and Alfredson often worked by telepathy during shoots, where Alfredson would say, "That needs to be more…" and rub two fingers together, and Oldman would say, "I know exactly what you mean," and do it a different way, and Alfredson would say, "That was… yes!" and neither of them could articulate what it had been.) Despite its rocky start, the movie has had my coworker and me thinking about the characters all day, and that's definitely in its favor.
And now: Pictures!
It's craaaaaazy Gary Oldman! Terribly blurry and dim and taken by a stranger, but whatever, we were next to each other and he was barely taller than me.
Signed poster:
Signatures closer up. Yes, the top one apparently says "Gary Oldman." Granted, he signed it over his knee with a ballpoint pen while standing. (If ever there were a moment to convince me to carry around a Sharpie...)
Happy pre-Thanksgiving to all you celebrants. I'll be attempting travel tomorrow; fingers crossed that the predicted heavy rain won't be too much of a problem.
After walking halfway to the Metro with my coworker afterwards, I… may have turned around, gone back into the theater, and waited in line for an autograph and photo. Because-Gary Oldman! Light of my film-crushes life! One of the first actors whose oeuvre I plowed through as a teenager, overcome with adoration.
More on that in a second. First: It was an overall enjoyable movie.
The short pitch: [SPOILERS!] Benedict Cumberbatch has a boyfriend, Mark Strong is in love with Colin Firth, Firth has an offscreen girlfriend and boy toy, Tom Hardy is young and naïve and sympathetic and even cries a little, and seasoned-but-recently-discharged spy Gary Oldman kicks ass by doing research and manipulating people as needed to serve and save his country. And the characters have actual plots and motivations besides all that. Also, they are spies. If you like spies. I could take or leave them, but enjoyed them here. [END OF SPOILERS]
The longer pitch: Excellent performances from an all-star cast. I expect fandom will have a small seizure when it's released more widely. I mean, look who's in it:
- Gary Oldman
- Colin Firth
- Tom Hardy from Inception
- Benedict Cumberbatch from the Sherlock TV show
- Mark Strong from the recent Sherlock Holmes movie
- John Hurt
My biggest complaint editing-wise is that the beginning cut too quickly among scenes, so it was hard to latch onto any one character's thread and grasp what was happening for a while, but at about the halfway mark, it settled into itself. After that, the puzzle driving the story was engaging. It also seemed a bit blurry-likely just a flaw with the projection-and it was filmed in that grainy, washed-out bluish-gray style so beloved by espionage films taking place during the Cold War. I haven't read Le Carré's books, so I don't know how fans will react to the condensed script or the portrayals, especially as compared to the previous British miniseries that some apparently consider a definitive adaptation, but from the sound of it, people were impressed with the elegance of the screenplay.
A few things came up in the Q&A that really illuminated some of what was enjoyable about the movie. First, Alfredson said he and his team drew out the homosexual subtext between many of the characters and added some that wasn't in the books, such as by giving one of the main characters a live-in male partner. The sexual attraction was palpable between one particular pair of characters throughout the film, coming to a complicated climax (not literally) in the final shots. This is the kind of subtext that viewers are not imagining; it's driving part of the plot. There were also a ton of slashable relationships that fandom might seize upon: Mark Strong/Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch/Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman/John Hurt, John Hurt/Mark Strong, John Hurt/character whose name I didn't catch, enemy spies/Mark Strong noncon, scary "good guy" spies/Benedict Cumberbatch dubcon/noncon, Gary Oldman/Colin Firth hate!sex… And it's primed for fic, because the relationships were well-done but left open due to the constraints of the script.
But no, seriously, Alfredson talked about how spy circles were rampantly gay in that era, how men were literally seduced into the profession, but how those relationships were not allowed to be out in the open because of the threat of blackmail. Which feeds into a theme of the film that a questioner from the audience brought up in connection to Let the Right One In: how both films have a heavy sense of loneliness and disconnection. By the end, we're looking at a collection of men most of whom can't be with the people they love, whether they're women or other men, whether they're in the profession or outside, whether they're compatriots or behind the Iron Curtain, and who have to choose their friends and mentors/mentees carefully. A wrong choice, and you end up shot. A right choice, and sometimes you end up shot anyway. Or your loved one does.
(There was even a bespectacled loner schoolboy character being groomed for the spy business who could be compared to the main character from Let the Right One In. Strange that Alfredson claimed not to see connections like that from one project to the next.)
Something I liked without realizing it until another questioner brought it up was the focus on the characters and their relationships over action sequences. There were no car chases or extended shoot-outs as the investigation into the conspiracy proceeded. There was graphic violence, to be sure, but it took a back seat to the rest, and when it happened it had impact on the characters and on the audience. (Ha, pun.) Alfredson mentioned the value of silence in film and television over dialogue and explosions; how scenes with one or two lines and a look from one character to another can achieve as much as a page of exposition, and how a few moments of silence allow viewers to digest what's been happening. He considers his audience adults, he said, who can piece together what's going on if they're given the space to. Oldman chimed in that these occasional long shots of his character, Smiley, being contemplative allow the audience to take what they've seen over the past two hours and fill his head with their conclusions and interpretations.
One more thing and we're done. It's spoilery for Smiley's character and Tom Hardy's plot, so read at your discretion. Alfredson said he thinks Smiley is a romantic at heart, and Oldman nodded. Despite the above-mentioned themes of loneliness and the unhappy endings going on all around him, despite his own marriage troubles and the way an enemy was able to use that against him, Smiley believes in romance. It's interesting to think about that in the context of what he does to Tom Hardy's character, Ricki, which is to lie to him about his girlfriend still being alive so Ricki will do a dangerous job for him without taking the sort of unnecessary risks that come from being in grief. It's a practical decision, not a compassionate one. It's the kind of decision Smiley makes at least twice more in the movie. Once is when he withholds (unrelated) information from Peter before sending him to MI-6 headquarters on another risky assignment; Peter knows the assignment is risky and takes it anyway, but he's at first hurt when he discovers the secret-or, to be fair, when Smiley immediately reveals the secret-then comes around to the understanding that that was how it had to happen, in case he was caught. The other time is when Smiley blackmails a fellow spy into divulging confidential information. Smiley's not evil, he's just willing to use whoever he needs to use for the sake of England and the bigger picture. The thing with Ricki, maybe, is that Smiley sees himself in him-young and romantic, unaware of the heartbreak headed his way, needing a dose of reality-and just postponing knowledge of that reality long enough to get an important performance out of him. One that's larger than either of them.
Tom Hardy was great, by the way. Playing a familiar character for him, like Handsome Bob mixed with Eames: youngish, scruffy, disreputable, highly and effortlessly competent, squishy at the core. A bit of a forger, too, with his various identities; "I played a businessman having a holiday romance." Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I've never seen as Sherlock except in some vids, was also excellent in one of the leading roles, even with his strange blond highlights. Mark Strong had a strong (ha) performance, largely thanks to an expressive face and body language, and again despite the retro hair. Colin Firth, always enjoyable. Gary Oldman led the cast with confidence but without stealing the show. Etc. Actually, he said it was nice to play a role where he was allowed to have an internal life instead of being asked to incarnate his emotions with frantic energy (see for reference: The Fifth Element and Red Riding Hood). He said Smiley is a study in economy of energy; he calmly opens a car window for a bee to get out, but he only opens it that much.
So, that was interesting, and worth seeing a second time to pick up on more details and examine the writing and some of what came up during that discussion. (Gary Oldman also talked about how the hardest part for him is doing these tours and having to analyze what comes intuitively. What was he thinking in that last scene, someone once wanted to know; he said he told them he was thinking about walking into the frame at the right moment, looking at a table of people who weren't there, and where the camera was. He said he and Alfredson often worked by telepathy during shoots, where Alfredson would say, "That needs to be more…" and rub two fingers together, and Oldman would say, "I know exactly what you mean," and do it a different way, and Alfredson would say, "That was… yes!" and neither of them could articulate what it had been.) Despite its rocky start, the movie has had my coworker and me thinking about the characters all day, and that's definitely in its favor.
And now: Pictures!
It's craaaaaazy Gary Oldman! Terribly blurry and dim and taken by a stranger, but whatever, we were next to each other and he was barely taller than me.
Signed poster:
Signatures closer up. Yes, the top one apparently says "Gary Oldman." Granted, he signed it over his knee with a ballpoint pen while standing. (If ever there were a moment to convince me to carry around a Sharpie...)
Happy pre-Thanksgiving to all you celebrants. I'll be attempting travel tomorrow; fingers crossed that the predicted heavy rain won't be too much of a problem.