Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the second time last night. It wasn't because I was lost by the first viewing but because I was invited to go, and its the kind of film that deserves a second watch. John Le Carre is rightfully considered a master of espionage fiction, and so a cinematic adaptation of one his most famous books is a big enough draw in itself. But combine that with the excitement created by such a high quality ensemble cast and a director who has more than proved himself a steady hand with quietly threatening characters and you have a film that is worth giving a couple of hours to, even paying money for.

Tomas Alfredson's direction has certainly given a Scandinavian slant to both the pace, art direction and cinematography of this essentially British story. Gone are the slightly fuzzy and grimy portraitures of 1960s Brits. Striped jumpers, bad hair and beards. Instead all the men, even Smiley, are well dressed clean shaven, with that swarve assurance, that comes from being dressed by a wardrobe tech rather than their own crusty hands. Not that I don't like it. In a way it suits our now rather nostalgic view of those darker days during the cold war. Stripping it of the fuddy-duddiness of the real seventies only serves to intensify our understanding of this spy world, after all the cinema going audience of today is used to Spooks, Bourne and dare I say it, Daniel Craig. We associate spys with high tech, cleanliness, organisation, bright sterile rooms, not tea staines, scarves, and rubbish cars. There is not a glimpse of everydayness in Tinker Tailor, and I don't miss it. Its cool clean, chic.

Another thing that is missing from Tinker Tailor is any hint of an action sequence. Sure, there are few moments of hiding in bushes, even a gun shot or two, but nothing that need stunt men, barrels of gasoline, or a soundtrack that would shake your lungs into spaghetti soup. In fact the soundtrack and dialogue are as sparse and beautiful as the scenery and composition. It takes a full fifteen minutes for Gary Oldman to utter a single word, and when he does you realise how eagerly you'd been waiting for him to do it. His voice is deep and somehow different from how I expected, he sounds more like Guinness than you would think, and those glasses. They give him just enough roundness and softness to fool you, as Guinness did, into thinking Smiley could be a fool. He isn't. Oldman's performance makes this more obvious than perhaps his previous incarnations in book and TV series, which does eliminate one of my favourite things about Smiley, that they underestimated him. No one underestimates Oldman in this, not even the audience. You know he'll find the answer, whatever that might be. He's not thrashing around in the dark, seemingly hoping just to come across the answer by chance, he knows exactly where to look and what to do. It makes him more sinister than Guinness, but I think, also slightly less interesting.

Overall, I like Tinker Tailor, but possibly more for my love of the cast, than for the film itself. Give the story credit, give the actors credit, give the director credit, but if it doesn't live up to your expectation, don't be surprised or indeed put out. Its never easy adapting a book for screen, especially in ninety minutes.