Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (hereafter, TTSS) has been one of my most anticipated films of the year for quite some time now. The combination of actors that I greatly respect, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, with one of the more talented younger actors currently working in Tom Hardy, and an espionage style plot caught my attention in the pre-production stages.
Swedish director Tomas Alfredson received a lot of praise for his 2008 vampire film Let the Right One In, and to the best of my knowledge, TTSS is his first English language effort. It premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival with a generally favorable reception, with Oldman being discussed as a potential Oscar nominee, which would be his first in a career filled with great performances.
The plot centers around the search for a Russian double agent atop "The Circus," the colorful name used to describe British Intelligence at the height of the Cold War. The film opens with a botched mission to purchase intelligence in Hungary by agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong). The aftermath sees long-time Circus head, Control (John Hurt), and his right-hand man of sorts, George Smiley (Oldman), being relieved of their duties and forced into retirement. The new head of intelligence, Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), and his top agents (played by Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, and David Dencik) begin delivering highly secret material to the British government, material that Smiley and Control had previously questioned the validity of. When a British government official receives an anonymous call from former field agent turned apparent AWOL deserter Ricki Tarr (Hardy) revealing the existence of a Russian mole in British intelligence, Smiley is brought out of retirement to investigate.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a complicated, layered plot that takes significant focus and effort to unravel. It's an intelligent story and a dialogue driven thriller that challenges the viewer from start to finish. TTSS's look might be the film's biggest asset, with the dull tones fitting the overall feel of the film perfectly. The deliberate pacing approaches tediousness at times, and there are no doubt some that will find it on the slow and boring side. The ultimate reveal isn't predictable, but it isn't the powerful reveal that is often expected with films of this nature, so in that respect it feels as if it leaves a little to be desired.
Part of the complication comes from the fact that this is a two-hour movie based on a hefty novel and a subsequent 6+ hour BBC adaptation. Conveying that amount of material in one two-hour block kind of lends itself to some convolution, but Alfredson and the script here do about as good a job as seemingly possible. Everything does eventually come together, but there will be moments where you aren't quite sure what is happening. That is when you have to resist the urge to lose focus.
The quality of the acting helps immensely in these moments, as the performances are always compelling even when the story may not be. Oldman is good, but it's a quiet performance that doesn't jump out of the screen as much as many of his more well known characters. Firth, coming off his Oscar winning performance in The King's Speech, plays a quality supporting role, but he has a lot less to do than I would have guessed going in. The standout for me is once again Hardy, who overcomes a pretty gnarly wig to give the film its most interesting scenes.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy overcomes its flaws with authenticity, intelligence, and quality performances across the board.
9/11
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