Screenwriters: Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan
Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy
Trailer Link
IMDb page
A great film with steep competition:
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came out in 2011 to great critical, financial and public acclaim, and became one of the most successful films at the British box office from that year. 2011 was a fantastic year for movies in general, featuring incredible pieces of cinema such as Shame, The Descendants, 50/50, as well as Drive and Take Shelter, which are two of my personal all time favourites. Because of this plethora of great films to choose from, Thomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sort of went under my radar for a long period of time, and it was not before recently revisiting it on BluRay, that I realized how solid a piece of movie making it actually is.
A realistic depiction of the war for intelligence:
The film takes place in 1972 during the height of the Cold War, in a bleak, somber, depressing and grey version of London, where George Smiley (Oldman) has been tasked with identifying a double agent from within the heart of the MI6, who has been delivering vital British intelligence to the Soviet Union for years. This film is a true spy-thriller if ever there was one, and Alfredson goes to great lengths in his attempt to emphasize what it meant to be a British spy during the Cold War, both in the field and in the secluded, isolated, sound-proof and cigarette smoke-filled MI6 offices back in London. What the Swedish director ended up with essentially is one of the best spy movies that I have ever seen, as well as one of the best depictions of the Cold War ever put on screen.
Tea time is over:
The Cold War is unlike any other war that has taken place in recent memory. Whereas WWII and the wars in Vietnam and Korea were quite traditional seen from a military standpoint, the Cold War was a much more indirect and tricky piece of work, during which the enormous amount of international tension and global fear for a third world war could be felt everywhere you went. It was a war based on intelligence, politics and indirect power, and the atmosphere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy mirrors this all-engulfing tension and sense of uncertainty incredibly well. The film takes place right at the top of the British intelligence agency during a time where everyone was suspicious of everyone and where you constantly had to assume that someone was watching you at all times, and Alfredson and his crew brilliantly manage to capture the sense of uneasiness and discomfort that dominated this piece of history.
The Cold War is unlike any other war that has taken place in recent memory. Whereas WWII and the wars in Vietnam and Korea were quite traditional seen from a military standpoint, the Cold War was a much more indirect and tricky piece of work, during which the enormous amount of international tension and global fear for a third world war could be felt everywhere you went. It was a war based on intelligence, politics and indirect power, and the atmosphere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy mirrors this all-engulfing tension and sense of uncertainty incredibly well. The film takes place right at the top of the British intelligence agency during a time where everyone was suspicious of everyone and where you constantly had to assume that someone was watching you at all times, and Alfredson and his crew brilliantly manage to capture the sense of uneasiness and discomfort that dominated this piece of history.
Less is more:
One of the things that I like the most about Tinker Tailor, is its ability to underplay the events that unfold in a way that makes the movie feel much more profound and intelligent than a large amount of other thrillers and spy movies. Its revelations and dramatic moments are handled in such a cool and controlled manner that they seem positively effortless and daunting in a very smooth and slick manner, which gives the film an incomparable sense of realism and craftsmanship that I have rarely seen before. Gary Oldman underplays his character's emotions and motivations in this way as well, and even though this is one of his most subdued, silent and controlled performances ever, it is also one of the richest and most personal performances that I have ever seen him deliver. The Cold War was all about subtlety, secrecy, betrayal and paranoia, and so is this movie.
In conclusion:
Being the shady, mysterious spy thriller that it is, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy admittedly is a very hard movie to keep up with. It is a very cleverly written piece of work that communicates its story through small hints and visual storytelling, which means that you have to pay very strict attention to the story if you want to understand it completely. I guess this is one of the reasons why I liked the film much more after watching it a second time, because even though I did my best to keep track of all the subplots, characters and timelines the first time around, the plot just was a little to heavy handed for me to catch all the details in one viewing. However, no matter how much of the story you manage to pick up on during your first viewing, the riveting atmosphere, the great performances and the high level of craftsmanship that this film benefits from are all very hard to miss, and should be enough to keep you entertained throughout the movie. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is very solid movie in my opinion, and even if you have already seen it and happened to find it a bit too complicated to follow, I strongly suggest anyone who reads this review to give the film a go.
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