Either I am a complete idiot (it IS possible) or this movie was incredibly boring....or both!

Rating: 4/10 (26 April 2012)

I have a VERY high ability to pay attention to very long films (having seen all of the Russian version of "War and Peace" at 414 minutes---TWICE, as well as "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" at 883 and 1620 minutes each), although I could not stick with "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". I even tried watching this film on two different occasions--and just found my mind wandering. It isn't that the acting is bad (the film is made up of wonderful actors such as John Hurt and Colin Firth). And, perhaps it isn't because the story sucks--as a bazillion copies of the book have been sold and it also was a very successful British TV series. No, to me the trouble is the mood. The director chose to film the movie in the most somber manner possible. As a result, despite being a spy film, there is almost no energy. And everything is GRAY--very, very gray. Despite 1973 being a year known for its outrageous colors, everyone in the film wears gray and brown suits---and even the brown looked rather gray! This, combined with oppressively dismal music just made this a very unpleasant viewing experience for me. So unpleasant, I just didn't care at all for the characters and was kind of hoping international Communism would win JUST to shake it up and provide some interest!! I know the film was Oscar-nominated and folks love it based on the reviews I read, but apart from "Tree of Life", I can't think of a duller film that's received a nomination in recent years. I really wanted to like this.