Intense, Relentless Intrigue

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2012)

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is a challenging cinematic interpretation of John le Carré's novel of the same name, This is not an action movie: this is a quiet study of how the intelligence operations of several countries function - slowly, quietly, secretly, mesmerizingly, and occultly. To fully comprehend the complex story it would be best to read the novel first: the film condenses a long tale into just over 2 hours and for the uninitiated this can result in a conundrum of semi-fleshed out events. But if you are in for an intense psychological drama that requires 100% of your attention then this is a movie to savor.
One aspect of the confusion that accompanies this film's story is the random uses of time changes - some things are shown in various stages of their development as they affect the story and some remain in the present, giving a time travel feel to the film. Odd little bits of action clarify this for the viewer: in the opening of the film George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is fitted for new glasses (a very fine bit of photography form cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema) and that is the clue that when he is wearing his new glasses we are in the present and not in a flashback.
As for story it is fairly well known: we are in the Cold War in the 1970s and Control (John Hurt), the irascible Head of the British Intelligence resigns after a botched attempt to ferret out a mole in Hungary by sending Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on a mission. Prideaux is killed. Convinced there is a Russian agent serving as a mole Control brings on George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to investigate a story agent Ricky Tarr (Tom Hardy) feels compelled to share. Smiley considers that the failure of the Hungary operation and the continuing success of Operation Witchcraft (an apparent source of significant Soviet intelligence) confirms this, and takes up the task of finding the mole. Through the efforts of Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley obtains information that eventually leads him to Jim Prideaux, the agent at the heart of the Hungary fiasco. And on it goes with the resolution of events offered to the viewer behind the same sort of shady gauze that hides much of the work of Intelligence.
The strong cast includes key roles by Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Firth and Simon McBurney. Though Gary Oldman's performance is definitely worthy of the praise he has received, it is the performance by Tom Hardy that sets a level of excellence to which all the other actors must strive to achieve. Have a good night's sleep that night before viewing, a couple of strong cups of coffee, and stay hyper alert: the film is well worth exploring and digesting.
Grady Harp