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

[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.