Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a tense and dense espionage thriller, that weaves its story like a tightening noose, until the audience is left breathless in the cinema.
Based on the classic novel of the same name, by John le Carré, the film is set at the height of the Cold War, when paranoia is running rampant and time is running out. George Smiley (Gary Oldman, Leon, Batman Begins) is a former spy, forced to retire when his reputation was ruined, who is re-hired by the British Government to seek out the mole who has burrowed its way into the heart of the secret service. The suspects – and his former friends– are Bill Haydon (Colin Firth, The King’s Speech), Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong, Kick-Ass), Percy Alleline (Toby Jones, Infamous), or Toby Esterhase (David Dencik, War Horse). Otherwise know by their codenames: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier and Spy.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not a spy film like those we have come to expect in recent years, where its characters either rely on high-tech gadgets, or are more machine-like than the technology they employ – seemingly infallible, both physically and mentally. The film is a period piece and set during the Cold War, clearly, which rules out lasers and GPS; but more than that, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has a retro sensibility. The film itself is slow-paced and understated, and the spies within the film are gentlemen. When you see them seated around a table– Smiley trying to decipher from their most insignificant of movements who is a traitor to their country– you cannot imagine that anyone of them would be capable of throwing a punch to save either their life or their country.
The story is masterfully pieced together by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), like a puzzle, slowly revealing the larger picture. None of the characters, whether the traitor or not, are either as good or bad, honest or cowardly, as they initially appear to be. Along with a compelling story, the style of the film is without compare. The characters have been lifted from the pages of a 1970s story, as have their clothes, the cinematography and colouring of the film. It’s moody, menacing and atmospheric.
Don’t go into Tinker Tailor expecting to see gunfights or even, when it comes down to it, a thriller about countries at war. Because it’s more a thriller about human psychology and paranoia. Not a film about the battles between countries, but about the ties between people.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was released in Australia on January 19th
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, John Hurt,
Toby Jones, David Dencik, Kathy Burke
