We saw “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” on Monday. (Yes, two movies in one weekend. Partner and I are decadent capitalists, I know. We also had Chinese food at an excellent little neighborhood place near the theater both times. So sue us.)
The movie is a dark little exercise in Cold War espionage. If you need cheering up, do not see this movie. Gary Oldman, as spy supreme George Smiley, seldom changes his facial expression through the whole two hours: he does a sort of neutral thing with his eyes and lips, and that’s the keynote of the whole production.
Simply stated, the plot is: “There’s a double agent, George. Go find him.”
Who is it? The arrogant Toby Jones? The smooth Colin Firth? The bullyish Ciaran Hinds? The timid David Dencik? Oldman himself? (You can’t make any assumptions in a movie like this.) Maybe one of the lower-level agents: the lean and sympathetic Mark Strong, or the intense Benedict Cumberbatch, or the 1970s-handsome Tom Hardy?
I won’t tell you.
You cannot miss a moment of this movie. If you do, you’ll miss a bit of overheard dialogue, or a little piece of character exposition, or someone’s name that you didn’t catch before. We didn't even go to the bathroom for the whole two hours, and let me tell you, that is a near-miracle for the two of us oldsters. I was straining to catch every word, and I still missed a few things (Partner and I caught each other up over egg rolls and pork fried rice after the movie).
I can only tell you that I suspected the right person.
(Of course, I suspected all of them.)
If you want a time-travel ride back to 1973, with gray moody landscapes of London and Budapest and Paris, and lots of top-notch acting, you should see this.
Bring your brain along, and your ear trumpet. You’ll need both.
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