Jenni uses her Film Degree to do a Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
After hearing about it for absolute yonks with thanks to an obsessive friend, and then being nominated for three Oscars - I finally saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The movie involves the phenomenal Gary Oldman hunting down a mole within the MI6 during the cold war in the 1970s. There's a myriad of charming and suspicious players to keep track of and a lot of grimy, pretty cinematography -- this film excels at bringing out beauty in the dirty side of life.
I say this because it's a heavy subject - a traitor within in the very entity that is supposed to keep Britain safe - with a lot of lives on the line. And to quote Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, "If you see London now and at that time, it's two different cities. Today it's a white city; then it was black; it was so dirty, and you could still feel the War all around." - so, it is shot dirty (if that makes sense) - and yet it's absolutely gorgeous.
First off, props to the cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, who would have at least received a nomination if the Academy were still smoking whatever possessed them to give an award to Slumdog Millionaire's cinematographer. But alas...
Anyway, the real beauty in this film is the exact same reason that everyone is raving about it -- the acting. Woah my god, there was no weak links, none.
In fact, yesterday I wasted about an hour trying to find a picture of this kid --
-- and in the end I had to use "Mark Strong Tinker Tailor" because "William Haddock" or "Bill Roach" (actor and character name, respectively) gave me nothing. How rude! He was the best. I want this kid to be in a million movies. I have a running joke with a friend about recasting Daniel Radcliffe and remaking Harry Potter -- now, I want to recast every kids film with him. You are looking at your new "Hugo", ladies and gentlemen, this time less cloying and cuter.
I can't even count on one hand how many actors I got excited to see in this movie (Rome's Caesar, Ciaran Hinds, was in it! AARGH Rome makes me happy.) and there was no let downs! Fully sick, mate.
But of course, the actors wouldn't succeed without a clever, well-paced story to guide them.
The movie starts off slowly and builds magnificently - you don't even notice how taken in you are. And they're amazingly clever at slipping in flashbacks seamlessly to help flesh out the story. Praise praise praise for the writing and editing team, I offer nothing else.
However, at the end of the day, I'm afraid this is a movie which I might forget about in a few years. I enjoyed every moment and I can't find anything to pick apart... but I suspect it will fade into the back of my mind with the rest of the fantastically-solid-British-films I've seen over the years.
My conclusion - go see it. Now. It's simply great.
Gary Oldman can do no wrong. Let's hope he wins Best Actor at the end of the month!
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was directed by Tomas Alfredson, written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan based on the novel by John Le Carre and stars Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Kathy Burke, John Hurt (and SO many more awesome people), and introducing William Haddock.
The movie involves the phenomenal Gary Oldman hunting down a mole within the MI6 during the cold war in the 1970s. There's a myriad of charming and suspicious players to keep track of and a lot of grimy, pretty cinematography -- this film excels at bringing out beauty in the dirty side of life.
I say this because it's a heavy subject - a traitor within in the very entity that is supposed to keep Britain safe - with a lot of lives on the line. And to quote Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, "If you see London now and at that time, it's two different cities. Today it's a white city; then it was black; it was so dirty, and you could still feel the War all around." - so, it is shot dirty (if that makes sense) - and yet it's absolutely gorgeous.
First off, props to the cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, who would have at least received a nomination if the Academy were still smoking whatever possessed them to give an award to Slumdog Millionaire's cinematographer. But alas...
Anyway, the real beauty in this film is the exact same reason that everyone is raving about it -- the acting. Woah my god, there was no weak links, none.
In fact, yesterday I wasted about an hour trying to find a picture of this kid --
-- and in the end I had to use "Mark Strong Tinker Tailor" because "William Haddock" or "Bill Roach" (actor and character name, respectively) gave me nothing. How rude! He was the best. I want this kid to be in a million movies. I have a running joke with a friend about recasting Daniel Radcliffe and remaking Harry Potter -- now, I want to recast every kids film with him. You are looking at your new "Hugo", ladies and gentlemen, this time less cloying and cuter.
I can't even count on one hand how many actors I got excited to see in this movie (Rome's Caesar, Ciaran Hinds, was in it! AARGH Rome makes me happy.) and there was no let downs! Fully sick, mate.
But of course, the actors wouldn't succeed without a clever, well-paced story to guide them.
The movie starts off slowly and builds magnificently - you don't even notice how taken in you are. And they're amazingly clever at slipping in flashbacks seamlessly to help flesh out the story. Praise praise praise for the writing and editing team, I offer nothing else.
However, at the end of the day, I'm afraid this is a movie which I might forget about in a few years. I enjoyed every moment and I can't find anything to pick apart... but I suspect it will fade into the back of my mind with the rest of the fantastically-solid-British-films I've seen over the years.
My conclusion - go see it. Now. It's simply great.
Gary Oldman can do no wrong. Let's hope he wins Best Actor at the end of the month!
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was directed by Tomas Alfredson, written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan based on the novel by John Le Carre and stars Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Kathy Burke, John Hurt (and SO many more awesome people), and introducing William Haddock.