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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the kind of film we rely on the British to make, since Hollywood often seems incapable of producing movies that don’t constantly explain themselves to the viewer, like we are six-year-old children. Indeed, at the screening I attended, I heard more than a few whispered conversations as people tried to follow what was going on. You might call that poor storytelling, but I call it a lack of patience brought on by years of Hollywood coddling. This is a film that definitely rewards the patient viewer.

Adapted from the novel by John Le Carré, the story is set in 1973, where the highest-tech spy gadget you’ll find is the documents elevator that trundles through the walls of the British Secret Service headquarters at Whitehall. George Smiley (Gary Oldman), former second-in-command of the Service – which is nicknamed “The Circus” – has been pushed into early retirement after a failed mission sponsored by his leader Control (John Hurt) results in the apparent death of an agent. Smiley is approached by the Defence Minister, who tells him that Control suspected one of the Circus’ upper executive to be a Soviet mole, and asks him to find out which one. This is a huge challenge, since Smiley can’t enter the building, or interview any of the suspects. To find the mole, he must rely on second-hand information, vague clues, gossip, and his own memories of his former colleagues.

Watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not without challenges. It’s quite slow to get started, and on top of this, director Tomas Alfredson has made some interesting editing choices. Characters are continuously approaching each other to say or do something, but the film will then jump past the conversation right into the next scene. It’s unsettling, to say the least, especially for those of us who are used to movies that recap the story for us every other scene, or set things up as a series of objectives and set pieces so we can follow along. Then you begin to realize that you know exactly what just occurred during these jumps, and don’t need to have seen it after all. The power of the script and acting here is in giving you information without having to hear or see it, providing plenty of suspense and tension, even though there is relatively little action.

And terrific acting it is, from a cast of heavyweight actors including Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones, Mark Strong and Tom Hardy. There is an air of Shakespearean drama in the way these men gather around the table in their sealed war room, or glance at each other during repeated flashbacks to an office Christmas party. They’re all excellent, with the caveat that, due to the restrictions of Smiley’s investigation, most of them are not on screen as much as you might expect.

Gary Oldman is, however, and it’s more than enough. Smiley is a nearly impenetrable character – we wait a long time just for his first line of dialogue, and after that he still doesn’t say much – but Oldman conveys everything about what he is thinking, even through a blank stare behind a giant pair of bifocals. Benedict Cumberbatch, too, is superb as Smiley’s assistant.

Maybe you won’t like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as much as I did. Many people prefer to zone out and relax in front of a movie – this one requires you to sit up and pay attention, drawing your own conclusions and waiting for them to be confirmed. But we need more films like this, ones that engage the brain instead of hammering it into submission.

Tags: Movie Review

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