*** out of ****
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch
Running time: 127 minutes
Author’s note: From this point forward, I will be making my reviews stronger and more slender. An average review from years past hovered around the 700-word mark, but I will make my best attempt to cap the length of each column at 500 words. Think of this weight loss as a New Year’s Resolution of sorts.
The Motion Picture Academy rarely acknowledges performances of taciturn restraint, which makes it surprising that after three decades of compelling turns in roles as varied as Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald and Ludwig van Beethoven, Gary Oldman has finally been recognized with an Oscar nomination for his turn of hushed expertise in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
As retired intelligence analyst George Smiley – who appeared in a handful of John le Carré page-turners, including the 1974 novel this film is based on – Oldman is slyly perceptive, peering out from behind leopard-brown horn-rimmed glasses.
That novel’s title is derived from a children’s nursery rhyme, but for the story’s sake, are the code names for the MI6 officers that Smiley is investigating. There’s a Russian spy lurking somewhere at the upper echelon of that spy organization (dubbed "The Circus"), and this rotten apple must be disposed of. This unsavoury fruit can take the form of either chief Percy (Toby Jones), his deputy Bill (Colin Firth), or his close allies Roy (Ciarán Hinds) and Toby (David Dencik).
The "Circus" nickname is apt here, since Smiley performs acrobatics (of the intellectual variety) to avoid speculation on his part as he slices through confidential documents and interrogates several rogue agents to uncover the mole. One of those agents is a bushy-haired operative played by a stellar Tom Hardy.
Like Smiley, the film is classy, vastly intelligent and unemotional. It’s also dressed in dreary greys, as director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) cunningly harkens back to the dismal Cold War-era spy flicks of the 1960s. Alberto Inglesias’s moody, deliberate score, also up for an Academy Award, terrifically accompanies the glimpses at an ashy, dour Great Britain.
Le Carré’s novels are cunning and complicated works of crime drama, and thus keeping up with all of the characters, the code names, the double-crossing, the convoluted plot strands and the various connections between the characters is a challenge. Those unfamiliar with the original novel are bound to be dumbfounded by the onslaught of information.
Co-writers Bridget O’Connor (who died before the film was finished) and Peter Straughan cram the twisty plot into a tight two hours with mixed results. While the pacing is swift, the psychology behind many of the supporting characters being investigated is too slight. These agents have wonderful supporting players in their neatly tailored clothes, but could have used more screen time.
But Gary Oldman’s commanding presence could make any film worth watching, and his work as George Smiley is a mesmerizing master-class of acting. He leads a terrific ensemble who keep a twisty tale absorbing even as the confounding elements of the mystery threaten to overwhelm the film altogether.
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