firecat goes to the movies: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

[firecat]

First things first: Benedict Cumberbatch alert! He plays Smiley's protegé in the movie. So now he has played the super-detective (in the BBC Sherlock) and the sidekick, with equal aplomb.

I got very confused while watching this movie, even though I've read the John le Carré book it's based on. It has been a long time since I read the book, but I was sitting there thinking "I'm just not cut out for watching twisty movies any more." (It didn't help that I watched it in the theaters with no subtitles, and I've lost what little facility I had with hearing softly spoken dialogue, especially in non-American accents.)

So for me the movie was as if someone had taken the book, cut it up into scenes, put the scenes in a hat, and picked out a few of them at random to film them. They were beautifully, lovingly filmed. So it was actually as if the book were cut into scenes and then haikus were written out of the scenes, and then the haikus were filmed.

Afterward, I saw Roger Ebert's review, and he said, "the screenplay...is not a model of clarity. I confess I was confused some of the time and lost at other times....perhaps...I don't have a mind suitable for espionage." So if he couldn't follow the story either, then I guess I don't have to feel bad. I might re-read the books and then re-watch the movie to see if it makes more sense.

It was nice to see Oldman play someone other than a sociopath. Although I have to say he went as far as he could toward making Smiley sociopath-like.


Guillam (played by Cumberbatch) was gay in the movie. It was a good change from the novel.

Comments

Some spoilers here

[evilawyer]

I saw the TV miniseries on PBS and read the book, so I was okay, but I definitely think that if you didn't pay attention like a hawk for the first 45 minutes or so, the overall movie wouldn't have made that much sense. Unfortunately, it would have been 45 minutes attending closely without that attention helping at all with understanding what was going on in those 45 minutes --- it all seemed primed to come together in an "ah hah!" moment at minute 46 as long as you paid really close attention up to that point. Which would have frustrated me if I didn't have some idea where the story was going to begin with.

As for Oldman's Smiley --- the thing is, Smiley is a bit of a sociopath. He sort of has to be in his line of work. He sends people to their deaths (that bland face when he's sending Ricky back? Chilling, chilling, chilling!), arranges all sorts of unspeakable things in his job and it there's always this idea lurking that it isn't all for Queen and Country. I actually thought Oldman's wobble on the stairs at the end was a little out of character for Smiley, because while he loves Ann he's more than happy to use her as his single weak point that his enemies get overly focused on while he's off end running around them. Still, Oldman did a wonderful job with this role.

It was interesting, I thought, that they through in Peter Gwilliam being gay. It made for a lovely scene, but the novel was clear on the gay relationship between the mole and Jim. So was the TV miniseries (Ian Richardson and Ian Bannen had, I remember, a very touching scene st the end). The movie, not so much. Interesting, too, that 1980s British TV showed middled-aged homosexuality while current British films transfer the relationship to a much younger character. (And by interesting, I mean a bit irritating to my sensibilities, but not ennough to have ruined the movie for me.)

Re: Some spoilers here

[firecat]

I don't think Smiley's a sociopath at all. One of le Carré's main themes (in all his work) is that ordinary people do unspeakable things and heroic things in certain circumstances, and that spies aren't fundamentally different from the rest of us.

I use the furniture of espionage to amuse the reader, to make the reader listen to me, because most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage. I think what gives my works whatever universality they have is that they use the metaphysical secret world to describe some realities of the overt world.
--John le Carré, as quoted in "Master of the Secret World: John le Carré on Deception, Storytelling and American Hubris" by Andrew Ross, in Salon (21 October 1996); also in Conversations with John le Carré (2004) edited by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli and Judith Baughman, p. 141

Describing Smiley as a sociopath--as someone who doesn't have the conscience that normal humans have--sends precisely the opposite message.

Re: Some spoilers here

[evilawyer]

Differences of opinion are what makes life interesting, yes?

Re: Some spoilers here

[firecat]

Yes! :)

Re: Some spoilers here

[shehasathree]

I don't think Smiley's a sociopath at all. One of le Carré's main themes (in all his work) is that ordinary people do unspeakable things and heroic things in certain circumstances, and that spies aren't fundamentally different from the rest of us.

Having just 'read' the audiobook, I agree with this reading (and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, although I think I'm also gonna be wishing for subtitles!).

Re: Some spoilers here

[firecat]

A lot of theater complexes have a captioning system now. I will use it the next time I want to see a movie in the theater with a lot of dialogue.

http://www.captionfish.com/

[andrewducker]

You may find this interesting:
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/01/23/tinker-tailor-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/

[firecat]

I liked that a lot, thanks!

[sabotabby]

Having read the book recently, I had no problem following it. But if I'd read it a long time ago or never read it, I'd have been utterly lost.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I'd never read the book, but I had no problems following the film.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

I read the book about a month before the movie came out. The book was a little oblique about some things, but otherwise fairly clear. I followed the plot of the film, but it seemed like a silly disjointed plot with no clear motives driving it. I just ... no. I'll watch it again sometime to see if I change my mind, but I was disappointed. Esp. since it was so pretty.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Picking scenes out of a hat, making haikus out of them, then filming those - that's yeah.

[jillzilla.livejournal.com]

I didn't have trouble following the film, though I had read the book when I was about 15. My experience was of simultaneously taking in the film and having memories triggered from the book, and the intersection of memory with current experience made it extremely absorbing. I remembered about three-quarters of the way through who the mole was.

After seeing it I started rereading Le Carré. I understand it in a completely different way than I did when I was 14-16.

By the way, if you like Benedict Cumberbatch you might be interested in some of the radio work he's done. I have copies of all three series to date of a very funny radio comedy where he plays an airline pilot (with Roger Allam, who is equally fabulous) and one radio play where he portrays T.S. Eliot with a serviceable American accent. Drop me a line if you'd like to hear them.

[firecat]

"Who the mole was" was the only thing I remembered from the book. Oh, and the scene in the school.

Different how?

What are the names of the comedy and radio play?

[jillzilla.livejournal.com]

Mmm, different how...mostly politically. I had no sense of realpolitik at all at the time. I didn't have much of any notion of why there were two Germanys, which makes The Spy Who Came in from the Cold scary as hell but otherwise incomprehensible. It amazes me in hindsight that I read it in full when I was 14. I also had no idea what kind of purpose spying had, why they were doing it in the first place, so Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy read like a surreal film noir for me. At least I had a preexisting sense that the Soviet Union were enemies for some reason related to Communism, though I didn't know if the reason was founded or bullshit.

I think now that it was founded, even though Republican politicians at the time made it sound like utter bullshit. Having Polish friends of my age and hearing their stories has turned me into a retroactive Cold War hawk.

The radio comedy is Cabin Pressure and the play is Tom and Viv. (excuse me while I pause to hug BBC Radio 4)

[firecat]

I tried reading TTSS as a teenager but I found it too boring. I only started to enjoy le Carré when I discovered his books on audio, narrated by someone whose voice I love (who read under the names David Case and Frederick Davidson). I'm re-listening to TTSS now.

Thanks for the names of the BBC programmes! Cumberbatch seems to be in just about everything now (Sherlock, TTSS, War Horse, The Hobbit, the Star Trek reboot sequel)...I'm going to ration him. :)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I shan't ration him. I fully intend to wallow.

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Heh, watching Gary Oldman play Commissioner Gordon in the current Dark Knight movies is a revelation. He really can be low-key and normal! Who knew?

Also, Benedict Cumberbatch, aside from having the coolest British name evar, is sooo awesome as Sherlock Holmes. (But seriously, BBC, THREE EPISODES does NOT equal a SERIES! Sheesh.)

I am not a fan of espionage movies in general, but for Benedict I may make an exception!