Compelling but confusing

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2012)

I didn't see this in the theater, and just watched it on TV. (Well, "It's not TV, it's HBO," heh heh.)
I've read many John le Carre novels, including TTSS and most of the George Smiley saga ~ but not recently. Nevertheless, I had a very difficult time following the plot of this film.
The 2-3 pages worth of User Reviews I just read seem to be split between high praise and full-out criticism. My reaction is somewhere in-between. I was NOT put off, for example, by the generally seedy look of all the settings; I accepted that as realistic. My main problem was with the lack of exposition, and the seemingly random back-and-forth transitions between present time and flashback.
I find it hard to believe that ANYONE could follow this film who had not RECENTLY read the book or watched the BBC video.
Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I couldn't stop watching, I had to watch a second time, and now I have the book on hold at the library and the Alec Guinness series lined up in my Netflix queue.
While I found the film difficult to understand, something about the film made me really WANT to understand. The look, the mood, the acting ~ all so excellent that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, despite having no idea what the hell was going on. I suppose that's a recommendation, of sorts...