Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ciarán Hinds
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
Screenplay By: Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan
Based on the Novel By: John le Carré
Produced By: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Robyn Slovo
Distributor: Focus Features
Rating: R
Running Time: Approximately 127 minutes
Website: tinker-tailor-soldier-spy.com
Budget: $21 million
Genre: Drama
Release Date: January 6, 2011
I suspect that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on a 1974 novel by John le Carré, will be a divisive movie for audiences. The second time le Carré’s intricate spy thriller has been adapted for film, following a 1979 BBC miniseries, TTSS is about the divided loyalties of the men in the employ of MI6, the British Secret Service. Having been conditioned to a certain kind of cinema – the gritty-glamorous likes of James Bond and Jason Bourne – viewers will see in TTSS a more ambiguous, methodical approach to the espionage game. For some this will be a relief, an intellectual counterpoint to the Bond school of fast edits and flash over substance (I say this as a Bond fan). For others, the movie’s uncompromising refusal to portray the life of a spy as anything other than glacial bureaucracy and exhausting paranoia will be maddening.
Taking place in the ‘70s thick of the Cold War, TTSS concerns the efforts of frequent le Carré protagonist George Smiley (Gary Oldman), forced into early retirement, in trying to root out the mole ensconced in the highest level of MI6. Smiley’s old boss, the enigmatic “Control” (John Hurt), turns up mysteriously dead, and Smiley is discreetly brought in to follow up Control’s suspicions of betrayal within the spy organization’s inner circle. Central to Smiley’s investigation is the elusive head of the KGB, codenamed “Karla,” whose taunting and evasion of MI6 haunts Smiley more acutely than the recent departure of his wife. Even with Control’s narrowed list of potential double agents (all played by esteemed actors like Colin Firth and Toby Jones), Smiley slowly unravels a complicated plot full of deceptions, manipulations and only the occasional gunshot.
Make no mistake: TTSS takes its time getting where it needs to go, and no concessions are made to the audience. Spy lingo is tossed around with nary an explanation or an antecedent; major plot points pass in the space of a facial expression. TTSS plays its plot like it plays its spies: close to the chest, with any kind of explanation buried just under the surface – and no one’s telling. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge of how movies work should be able to root out the traitor whether they can follow the convolutions of the plot or not, but the myriad spies of the TTSS’s MI6 are all about keeping everything, facts and emotions alike, buried beneath the surface. It’s simultaneously the movie’s most admirable and infuriating trait: nothing is spelled out, and characters’ interior lives remain unexpressed beyond a raised eyebrow or a crestfallen glance. The result is somewhat dry, James Bond by way of “Masterpiece Theatre.” It’s to the film’s credit that it tackles the action of mature, damaged men with subtlety and grace; it’s to its detriment that almost everything about the movie is kept at arm’s length from the audience.
Whatever its plot and characters, the acting is beyond reproach. Carrying the movie is a lead performance by Gary Oldman. No stranger to scenery-chewing performances (look no further than The Professional), Oldman has turned the latter half of his career into a study in smooth character immersion (how many people even realize he’s The Dark Knight’s Commissioner Gordon?). Smiley, a dour, repressed, gray-skinned man in late middle-age, is ironically named; Oldman plays Smiley with just enough animation to let the audience know that Smiley has a lot going on in his head, but he’s not about to tell you about it. Surrounded by a ridiculously talented assemblage of English character actors, Oldman still distinguishes himself with his shockingly understated protagonist. Smiley rarely cuts loose – if Oldman requires an Oscar clip, it will likely be Smiley’s monologue about his one ill-fated encounter with Karla – but it’s impressive that he creates such a reserved main character without coming across as wooden or aloof.
Don’t let the spy trappings fool you: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a drama through and through. The men (and it is almost exclusively men) of MI6 have given up living healthy lives in defense of a country living in constant fear of Soviet incursion. While they couldn’t have known their efforts would be obsolete 20 years later, on some level these agents seem to acknowledge the absurdity of protecting their country from a threat they’ve never seen and can’t be sure what they’re doing. The agents are like the audience, not quite sure what’s going on and clued in only on a need-to-know basis. A healthy percentage of viewers will find the movie’s willful obliqueness dry to the point of dullness, but others will find value in its excellent performances and decidedly un-Bondian drive for truth in espionage, however mild-mannered that might be.
2.5 Stars (out of 5)
