"We're not that different, you and I"
Last week (a little out of date now) I went to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with my dad and my sister. What can I say, I prefer the family touch when it comes to seeing a film. Anyway, there we were, sitting in a somewhat grotty cinema from my childhood, since rarely used by us apart from the odd Harry Potter installment following the discovery of a better, more upmarket cinema down the road.
We sat in the theatre which had literally a smudge, a spattering if you will, of people. Practically a dozen viewers come to see Tomas Alfredson's big screen adaptation of John le Carre (I'd type the accented "e", but unfortunately, I don't know how) and the murky world of espionage and ultimate betrayal he seemed to create effortlessly back in 1974.
I'm going to cut my standard dronings about setup, trying to tell a story as the purpose of this journal entry is *simply* to highlight the brilliance of said film.
Tinker, Tailor (the abbreviated name) is possibly the best film I saw all year, granted I've only seen three films this year...the one in question included. No...wait...not included. Submarine, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt II (obviously), and Super 8. This film, by-far, outshon them all. In all respects. Acting, direction, tone, lighting, music, it just appealed to me far more than any of my previous cinematic outtings this year. The combination of the pick of the British acting litter, superb direction and gripping plot just seemed too hard to resist.
The problem with adapting Tinker, Tailor is that it was never going to be easy. What with it being quite a fiddly narrative to follow at the best of time and given the fact it's been pretty conclusively adapted already by the BBC starring Sir Alec Guinness in the lead role of George Smiley (a quiet, mild mannered, semi-retired secret agent) now in the later part of his career.
This TV adaptation is extremely good too, undeniably superior in many many aspects, like pacing and character development, almost entirely different in terms of style or direction, but the moody undertones and quiet performances riddled with understatement are pretty much identical.
Bespectacled. Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
The problem with a hugely successful adaptation that precedes a big screen version, is it inevitably influences the viewer's...view, of the characters, how they're played, who plays them, the dialogue and such like. I would argue that Guinness is the more accurate, downtrodden, quiet Smiley, who works in the context of a TV series (I would even say it is Guinness' best acting role. FORGET Obi Wan, please, I beg of you. Expunge it from your mind), his performance also has a severely loveable, likeable quality. A quality that makes you sympathise with him instantly. The large circa 1973 spectacles magnifying his already sorry eyes make you feel immense respect, even pity for the chap, considering, somewhat unconventionally for the spy genre, it is his wife, the unseen-Ann who sleeps around, being known for her reputation alone.
Guinness most definitely made the part his own, playing it with quiet dignity, and a subtlety I haven't actually seen anywhere before. A marked success I think.
Anyway, that isn't terribly relevant, the point I was grabbing at was how a previous adaptation may affect the way a first time viewer (like myself) may perceive a new, more up-to-date take on a story. Thankfully, I dug out our copy of the BBC Tinker, Tailor, and put it aside, not to watch until the film is under my belt. And thus my life played out.
Back to the film.
It stars the considerably younger Gary Oldman as the aging spy Smiley, and you know what? He damn-near pulls off a perfect performance. He plays the part, understandably, in an extremely different way compared to Guinness, he plays a slightly..."crueller" Smiley, in the words of Oldman, even though I don't terribly see it that way. His Smiley is more...mopey, if that's the word. Retaining the silent, all-seeing, ever-present, confessor, disenchanted romantic qualities of the Anti-Bond spy set down in the books written by LeCarre. Infact he doesn't say a word for nearly the first half hour that we are introduced to him.
A character who is extremely introvert and a man of routine. So, quite the contrasting role for Oldman to play, he of playing energetic psychopaths fame.
Introverted
The basic premise of the film, (best tell you what it is, seeing as this would just be a ramble about the film's brilliance, which, let's face it, no one wants to read. There's enough of mindless adoration of DeviantArt as there is) is George Smiley is quietly forced to retire, or is atleast tagged along into retirement, along with the aging head of MI6, Control, played by John Hurt (apparantly an early choice for the role of Smiley). Control has been working for months on uncovering the identity of a Mole in the higher echelons of the Circus (The name given to the organisation due to it's proximity to Cambridge Circus. Not an actual Circus you understand) in other words, one of his own people around him who is a spy for the other side...The Russians, Ruskies, Reds, whatever you called them back then. Control "dies" and Smiley is called back into service to continue Control's work in silence. And thus the story unfold.
The film is slowly paced, but not achingly so, it's an intellectual film is one way to put it. Hardly the latest Jason Statham/Robert DeNiro/Clive Owen trainwreck, "Killer Elite", based on the 1991 novel "the Feather Men" (and infinitely better title if ever there was one) by British action man-cum-adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
God forbid.
Thankfully things don't become tiresome or tedious due to the frankly orgasmic (and I mean that in the most Heterosexual way possible) British cast essembled for a film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth to name but two. The film is not unlike an intellectual version of The Expendables. Done right. Obviously. Thankfully, due to the sheer number of stupendous actors, big and small, there's always someone worthy of your attention on screen.
The film also got the seal of approval from the man whose opinion counts most, LeCarre himself, who not only co-produced it, also had a brief cameo in the film itself, which was great fun seeing.
Approved.
But the real star of the film is, of course, Oldman himself, in a role he has named himself, as his best role to date. A role which is tipped to be his Oscar. Frankly it's a joke he's never had one yet, he should have an honourary category all to himself, but then, that would be silly.
His portrayal of Smiley is superbly meloncholic but also echos strongly at times Guinness, the ghost of Guinness did indeed linger it seems. Oldman's voice for example sounding awfully similar to the mellow resonant tones of the previous Smiley, but not to the point of being distracting, or indeed de-tracting from the acting itself. But really in situations like this, you must remember the film is NOT a remake, regardless of what some slightly less aware reviewers may say.
It is the first big screen version of the story to date. Makes you wonder why really, but then you have to remember just how large a shadow Sir Alec's performance has cast over all the following adaptations and how it, to many people, made any other version seem unnessessary.
Feels only fitting I make my final point about Alec Guinness. My mum adores the work of John leCarre and indeed Tinker, Tailor, she hasn't seen the film yet, and probably won't until it's release on DVD. She loves the BBC series, understandably so, but I dare say it's mainly because of the marked similarities between Guinness' Smiley and her now, sadly, late father (and my grandfather) who worked in an Embassadorial position. Apparantly he never spoke of his work to my mum or her mother, which does rather enticingly invite the thoughts that he might indeed have been in a Smiley position, holding the strands of government and such together. And in my mind, that is how I think of him now. As a quiet secret agent, totally unassuming to the naked eye, but with a mind as sharp as a tack, always thinking, always "seeing".
May seem a bit silly, but it's nice to think that way sometimes.
Smiley on Smiley
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