Thoughts on "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
Well, everything I need to do workwise for both little businesses requires that I get access to records housed in courthouses and other government offices, and they're all closed today, so I might as well fill some time by messing around. This time, I shall give my review and/or critique of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which I saw yesterday.
Excellent movie all in all. I'd watched the miniseries on PBS back in the 80s then read the book, so I went in with an established mindset. That can sometimes cause trouble, but it didn't this time. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although it had some differences from both the the miniseries and the book. More missing nuances than anything; nothing that completely destroyed anything about character or plot. And now, a few thoughts, in no particular order and not all substantive:
(1) My word, but John Hurt has some mighty fine hair! How old is he now? 70? And he always struck me as one of those actors who'll shave his head and dye his hair with peroxide if the role required. Not a good recipe for good hair, usually, but his looked great in this movie. Plus, he's, you know, a superb actor. That look of betrayed realization on his face when Westerby comes in to tell him what's happened to Jim in Hungary is stunning.
(2) Colin Firth is starting to look old. Still a handsome man, but the years are starting to show on him. Which I actually like, but I guess I just hadn't noticed it until now.
(3) Didn't really like the choice of clothes they put on the Peter Gwilliam character. This has all to do with the miniseries (don't remember it as being mentioned in the book). In that, they dressed Michael Jayston's Gwilliam more casually, in things like sports jackets and white-and-red small plaid shirts and (crochet-looking) ties and pants that looked like khakis. It let him come across as more like Action Man when he was out doing Smiley's illegal, traitorous (depending on your viewpoint) bidding. That made sense because (a) Gwilliam was a lot younger than Smiley and (b) very much a part of the Young, New, Bold Circus, the Circus that really wanted to get into bed with the CIA and was fighting a new kind of Cold War that didn't rely as much on the skills the older spies like Smiley had developed while spying on Germany during World War II. And less stuffy clothing on him, when all the old (or older) guard were wearing three piece suits, fit that vibe better than having him dress the same as them. Not that Benedict Cumberbatch didn't look nice decked out the way he was, but he was too three-piece-suit formal. Sort of destroyed the dichotomy of new versus old, and minimized (to the point of elimination what had the air of a little tension in the midst of the respect Gwilliam had for Smiley.
(4) Jim P., whose name I never can spell. Played by Mark Strong in this movie, and Ian Bannen in the miniseries. Strong did a great job; his ability to clearly set the complete tone and true parameters of the Hayden-Jim relationship with just a single look was nothing short of brilliant. But here is where you see that a two hour movie simply doesn't have the time to develop a multi-character, twisty-plotted book adaptation. In the book and the miniseries, we got to see a Jim who was a seething ball of anger and pain over having been betrayed (and Oldman's Smiley is right when he explicitly says that Jim suspected who betrayed him), which came out strongly throughout the whole book/miniseries but especially powerfully when we got to see Jim at the end, back at his school and exuding a slightly deflated, somewhat sad and in some ways almost Zen-like calm after having dealt with the situation. Strong didn't get the chance to show that transformation, which is a pity. He did very well with what he had, though.
(5) Toby Jones! My word, that man acts with his entire body! I mean, really, he went from cock-sure, bullying turdness to totally defeated dejection with just a change in the set of his shoulders. I didn't notice the final hang dog look on his face until after it looked to me like he'd shrunk a foot. No longer will I think "Ollie from The Mist" anymore when I see him on screen, although he was excellent in that, too, despite the type of movie it was.
(6) Gary Oldman. An acting god, and he brought those talents to this movie. But, and it isn't that he didn't do an excellent job with everything else, there were characteristics put into the role of Smiley that didn't seem to be Totally Smiley to me. Actually, there was only one characteristic, and it had to do with his wife. Granted, never seeing his wife or learning anything about her but that she cheats on him when, in the book and even the miniseries, she is and always has been a big ho and everyone knows it and is always giving Smiley shit about it (particularly troublesome in this regard, in my opinion, is the movie's omission that Ann and Hayden were cousins, if I remember correctly, which adds a whole other layer of pathology to her sex addiction) had something to do with it, as does the need for the current generations of movie-goers to see emo and domestic drama (although, gotta say, I was probably the fourth youngest person in that theater, so catering to people in their twenties and thirties doesn't seem to have been a necessary or even feasible thing, at least not here in the US). But Oldman's Smiley seems genuinely shocked and hurt to see his wife at the Christmas party, and there are other indicators --- the little wobble on the stairs, for instance --- that bring his hopeless love for her and pain from her infidelity to the forefront. Because he loves her so much, Ann is the weakness for Oldman's Smiley that he admits she is and, I think, nothing more.
Ann is a weakness for Book Smiley and Alec Guinness' Smiley, too . They love Ann, have and always will even though she kills their spirit a little everyday and makes them objects of widespread derision and pity. But they've taken that and, in a way we don't get to see with Oldman's Smiley, turned it into what can either be considered a strength or sheer cold-bloodedness. Book Smiley and Guinness Smiley have, in my opinion, taken the weakness that Ann lays on them and turned it to their advantage. Oldman's Smiley is hurt by Ann above all else; Book and Guinness Smiley aren't exactly happy with her faithlessness, but they both use her as a focal point for their weakness. Book and Guinness Smiley keep her even though she so richly deserves to be booted out on her ass, her family connections and the fact that divorce was simply not done in those days notwithstanding, not because of his love for her but because as long as she's around, she is his only weakness, or rather the only weakness that others can see enough to try to use against him. Which allows him to always be at the top of his game as a spy. It's cold and heartless, even to himself, but that's exactly what Smiley is, considered to be past his prime though may be. He is, underneath that milquetoast exterior, that calculating and ruthless.
To be fair to Oldman, there isn't enough time in a two hour movie to develop that particular aspect of Smiley's diamond-hard center, even if you're not worried as filmmaker about giving a a modern audience the walloping doses of pathos they seem to need to enjoy movies and TV shows nowadays. In addition, Oldman certainly makes up for it well in other ways. We get a glimpse of it, if you've a mind to look, at his reaction to Hayden's comments about his affair with Ann. There really is no ill will there, on either side of that conversation. It stares us unflinchingly in the face when he's telling Ricky that he'll do his utmost to get Irena out. At that moment in Oldman's performance, we see that his Smiley is the kind of man who can sit there with his vanilla pudding-benign face, kindly voice and glitteringly cold eyes as he takes and twists a man's desire for redemption and need to atone into something to use to send that man into what could very well be his death. It sent a shiver down my spine, is all I've got to say.
So, yeah, I liked this movie, even though I ended up with a crick in my neck from the sitting in the otherwise kind-to-my-butt theater chair. Certainly worth having in my DVD collection when it comes out.
This entry was originally posted to Dreamwidth at http://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/133536.html. There are
comments to this post there.
Excellent movie all in all. I'd watched the miniseries on PBS back in the 80s then read the book, so I went in with an established mindset. That can sometimes cause trouble, but it didn't this time. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although it had some differences from both the the miniseries and the book. More missing nuances than anything; nothing that completely destroyed anything about character or plot. And now, a few thoughts, in no particular order and not all substantive:
(1) My word, but John Hurt has some mighty fine hair! How old is he now? 70? And he always struck me as one of those actors who'll shave his head and dye his hair with peroxide if the role required. Not a good recipe for good hair, usually, but his looked great in this movie. Plus, he's, you know, a superb actor. That look of betrayed realization on his face when Westerby comes in to tell him what's happened to Jim in Hungary is stunning.
(2) Colin Firth is starting to look old. Still a handsome man, but the years are starting to show on him. Which I actually like, but I guess I just hadn't noticed it until now.
(3) Didn't really like the choice of clothes they put on the Peter Gwilliam character. This has all to do with the miniseries (don't remember it as being mentioned in the book). In that, they dressed Michael Jayston's Gwilliam more casually, in things like sports jackets and white-and-red small plaid shirts and (crochet-looking) ties and pants that looked like khakis. It let him come across as more like Action Man when he was out doing Smiley's illegal, traitorous (depending on your viewpoint) bidding. That made sense because (a) Gwilliam was a lot younger than Smiley and (b) very much a part of the Young, New, Bold Circus, the Circus that really wanted to get into bed with the CIA and was fighting a new kind of Cold War that didn't rely as much on the skills the older spies like Smiley had developed while spying on Germany during World War II. And less stuffy clothing on him, when all the old (or older) guard were wearing three piece suits, fit that vibe better than having him dress the same as them. Not that Benedict Cumberbatch didn't look nice decked out the way he was, but he was too three-piece-suit formal. Sort of destroyed the dichotomy of new versus old, and minimized (to the point of elimination what had the air of a little tension in the midst of the respect Gwilliam had for Smiley.
(4) Jim P., whose name I never can spell. Played by Mark Strong in this movie, and Ian Bannen in the miniseries. Strong did a great job; his ability to clearly set the complete tone and true parameters of the Hayden-Jim relationship with just a single look was nothing short of brilliant. But here is where you see that a two hour movie simply doesn't have the time to develop a multi-character, twisty-plotted book adaptation. In the book and the miniseries, we got to see a Jim who was a seething ball of anger and pain over having been betrayed (and Oldman's Smiley is right when he explicitly says that Jim suspected who betrayed him), which came out strongly throughout the whole book/miniseries but especially powerfully when we got to see Jim at the end, back at his school and exuding a slightly deflated, somewhat sad and in some ways almost Zen-like calm after having dealt with the situation. Strong didn't get the chance to show that transformation, which is a pity. He did very well with what he had, though.
(5) Toby Jones! My word, that man acts with his entire body! I mean, really, he went from cock-sure, bullying turdness to totally defeated dejection with just a change in the set of his shoulders. I didn't notice the final hang dog look on his face until after it looked to me like he'd shrunk a foot. No longer will I think "Ollie from The Mist" anymore when I see him on screen, although he was excellent in that, too, despite the type of movie it was.
(6) Gary Oldman. An acting god, and he brought those talents to this movie. But, and it isn't that he didn't do an excellent job with everything else, there were characteristics put into the role of Smiley that didn't seem to be Totally Smiley to me. Actually, there was only one characteristic, and it had to do with his wife. Granted, never seeing his wife or learning anything about her but that she cheats on him when, in the book and even the miniseries, she is and always has been a big ho and everyone knows it and is always giving Smiley shit about it (particularly troublesome in this regard, in my opinion, is the movie's omission that Ann and Hayden were cousins, if I remember correctly, which adds a whole other layer of pathology to her sex addiction) had something to do with it, as does the need for the current generations of movie-goers to see emo and domestic drama (although, gotta say, I was probably the fourth youngest person in that theater, so catering to people in their twenties and thirties doesn't seem to have been a necessary or even feasible thing, at least not here in the US). But Oldman's Smiley seems genuinely shocked and hurt to see his wife at the Christmas party, and there are other indicators --- the little wobble on the stairs, for instance --- that bring his hopeless love for her and pain from her infidelity to the forefront. Because he loves her so much, Ann is the weakness for Oldman's Smiley that he admits she is and, I think, nothing more.
Ann is a weakness for Book Smiley and Alec Guinness' Smiley, too . They love Ann, have and always will even though she kills their spirit a little everyday and makes them objects of widespread derision and pity. But they've taken that and, in a way we don't get to see with Oldman's Smiley, turned it into what can either be considered a strength or sheer cold-bloodedness. Book Smiley and Guinness Smiley have, in my opinion, taken the weakness that Ann lays on them and turned it to their advantage. Oldman's Smiley is hurt by Ann above all else; Book and Guinness Smiley aren't exactly happy with her faithlessness, but they both use her as a focal point for their weakness. Book and Guinness Smiley keep her even though she so richly deserves to be booted out on her ass, her family connections and the fact that divorce was simply not done in those days notwithstanding, not because of his love for her but because as long as she's around, she is his only weakness, or rather the only weakness that others can see enough to try to use against him. Which allows him to always be at the top of his game as a spy. It's cold and heartless, even to himself, but that's exactly what Smiley is, considered to be past his prime though may be. He is, underneath that milquetoast exterior, that calculating and ruthless.
To be fair to Oldman, there isn't enough time in a two hour movie to develop that particular aspect of Smiley's diamond-hard center, even if you're not worried as filmmaker about giving a a modern audience the walloping doses of pathos they seem to need to enjoy movies and TV shows nowadays. In addition, Oldman certainly makes up for it well in other ways. We get a glimpse of it, if you've a mind to look, at his reaction to Hayden's comments about his affair with Ann. There really is no ill will there, on either side of that conversation. It stares us unflinchingly in the face when he's telling Ricky that he'll do his utmost to get Irena out. At that moment in Oldman's performance, we see that his Smiley is the kind of man who can sit there with his vanilla pudding-benign face, kindly voice and glitteringly cold eyes as he takes and twists a man's desire for redemption and need to atone into something to use to send that man into what could very well be his death. It sent a shiver down my spine, is all I've got to say.
So, yeah, I liked this movie, even though I ended up with a crick in my neck from the sitting in the otherwise kind-to-my-butt theater chair. Certainly worth having in my DVD collection when it comes out.
This entry was originally posted to Dreamwidth at http://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/133536.html. There are
comments to this post there.