Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
Tomas Alfredson came to attention in 2008 after his atmospheric thriller, the acclaimed Let The Right One In, about a young boy who befriends a vampire. The Swedish director now takes his chills-making expertise and coolly applies it to a John le Carré spy thriller adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and adds a spectacular cast of seasoned actors at the peak of their careers, including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong and Ciarán Hinds, to produce a powerhouse spectacle of acting prowess.
Set in the bleak days of the Cold War (1970s), espionage veteran George Smiley (Oldman) is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6’s echelons, known as the Circle. There are four possible suspects who may be the mole that is leaking secrets to the Soviets. Can Smiley discover the culprit before he realises Smiley is hunting him down and destroys the evidence?
Alfredson’s film requires the viewer’s full and undivided attention if it’s to succeed. With this in place, it’s film plot gold, with only a smattering of action sequences of the traditional, film noir-style ‘shoot-them-up’ kind, rather than all-out excess that often peppers contemporary spy thrillers. More a character study within a traditional thriller mould, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy matures at its own deliberate pace in a marvellous recreation of sharp 70s style and growing anxiety, fitting of Le Carre’s work.
That said the captivating elements of the film are not necessarily the spy story itself that builds the tension beautifully as almost a sub-context, but watching the riveting screen exchanges between some of the finest British actors today, in settings that are worthy of capturing as a photograph or painting at any one instant; each scene is superbly crafted.
Oldman’s man-of-few-words Smiley is a force of reflective menace, sumptuously underacted but utterly domineering in any exchange he finds his character in, and surely worthy of Awards recognition. Firth is naturally at home in the British corridors of espionage power, almost typecast in a sense, in a boisterous and outspoken part as suspect spy Bill Haydon, a role that befits his eloquent tones and flamboyant air. Jones, Hinds and Swedish star David Dencik as the other possible moles on Control’s (Hurt) chess board all give stellar performances that alternate between conceited highs to cowardly lows. Hurt makes his own mark at the start as the linchpin of the operation, callously set up and brushed aside, but forever the film’s looming conscience.
Two younger actors, though, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch, deserve special recognition for their more ambitious moments that involve a lot of the film’s action sequences, placing them on a par with acting stalwart Strong in injecting the film’s nail-biting set-pieces as Smiley’s dig for clues escalates, especially Hardy as Ricki Tarr who delivers his reveals with pose and purpose.
Alfredson’s screen version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an acquired taste, a return to cinema of the 40/50s that requires cerebral input and facts recollection, even though some might guess the culprit long before the coldly calculated end reveal that might possibly diffuse the mounting intrigue and suspicion. Nevertheless, for those who do, the prize is being proven right, adding a whole different, but still exciting dimension to the riddle. As said this film is more a platform of acting greatness that defines British cinema and novel writing as world class. It is a nostalgic tour de force that demands due diligence.
4/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
