Better than Ambien

Rating: 4/10 (8 October 2016)

Watching the DVD put me asleep in 20 minutes. Thankfully the IMDb reviews tipped me that the movie is incomprehensible without reading the book and watching the 1979 mini-series 4 or 5 times. Its a spy thriller that you can only appreciate if you already know the ending.
Read the Wikipedia plot summary. And blog posts,(tinker-tailor-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/). Be sure to turn on closed captioning. They will put the name of the speaker in parentheses on occasion so you can figure out who the heck is talking.
Every time I read a spoiler I was amazed at how how sloppily the film was put together. No, I did not notice the sign for Bidabesto n the subway wall since there were a couple walking down the stares and the gal had a big floppy afro and that got me thinking how she got cast and if hair like that is hard to care for and how it looked silly flopping as she descended the stairs.
Just like there were always some Indians that lived near the fort, there are always some fan-boys that think its great you have to have read the books and watch the 1979 miniseries. Heck, even the director notes you should listen to his commentary in order to understand what is going on. His tone told me there were recording the commentary after the theatrical release where everyone was staggering out the theater asking "WTF just happened, I want my money back." Listen to Milos Forman commentary at the beginning of Amadeus, where he beats himself up worrying that audience will not understand who the guy running across the courtyard is. Read about Hitchcock arguing with Carry Grant, who did not "feel" his character would look across the street when he exited a building. Hitchcock exploded, "Its because I want the audience to understand what building is across the street!" A director's first duty is to clarity, not the narcissism of the actors or the autism of the writer. He serves the viewer, rather than condescend to us that we are so stupid we cannot understand his masterpiece.
The Wikipeda plot summary shows you this really is a simple plot. There is not a lot of stuff going on, once you take out the self-indulgent peacocking of having to watch files being lifted in a little dumbwaiter. There are two activating events, a botched defection in Budapest and a blown cover in gosh knows what city where a some British dolts get killed and a Russian traitor girl gets kidnapped. Needless to say, these don't come at the beginning of the movie since that would make sense. There are handfuls of flashbacks, but you can tease out the change-- when Oldman is staring into space one minute, and then he is somewhere else the next second, well Elmer, that thar is a flashback. The thing is there is so little context for any scene transitions, you get lost and everything is a blur.
That lack of context is telling. See, I am sure le Carré is autistic. He pretty much admits it, talking about his social awkwardness in the featurette. Having worked in tech for decades, and being pretty far up the spectrum myself, I can see how le Carré loves to dive into details, but stitching things together-- not so much. The books offer up a flood of semi-relevant details, so that critics read their own deep profound interpretations. Another Asperger feature is the lack of context. People like le Carré and myself just assume you know every single thing we know, and that you have had the exact same life experiences, and that like Ayne Rand, if you don't like Strauss and tap dancing, you are a worthless idiot.
Autism is fine for a novel. le Carré just churned out a torrent of words. You can flip back and forth in the books. He eventually reached coverage and connected the details together. I am sure his editor did yeoman's work trying to get a comprehensible story written down.
Now we come to this movie, and rather than feel sorry for a fellow Aspergiac like le Carré, I have to feel the director is just f*&ing with my head, like Thurman Murman was doing to Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa. I remember way into the movie thinking "Who the heck is Alleline?" And then a quick trip to the IMDb listing and I realize, "Oh, they mean Percy." Introducing people by first name and then switching to surname is a stupidity that they do in the series Vera, and all the more reason to have your 12-year-old daughter writing down the characters and plot points on a 8' x 12' white board you have rolled up next to your recliner. Maybe force her to read the book too-- "No daddy, its so booooooring!"
OK, too many details and no context, and a director who might be a narcissist sociopath since he like making moves only the chosen few can understand. Why he is so special, you should welcome spending 90 dollars to see the movie 9 times. But adding to this is the implausibility of the plot, and how Oldman catches the bad guy. None of this rings true, and looks like the fever dream of a clerk typist in MI6 that dreams of what real spies must be doing.
On top of that is the dreariness. It looks like they were shooting in Pompey after the pyroclastic ash cloud. Everything gray and dirty and depressing. When I watched the commentary track, I had a Mrs Fisher Murder Mystery episode playing without sound on the second TV. Quite the contrast. This film was just ugly, everything about it, plot, characterization, cinematography, is ugly. Glad I got the DVD for free from the library. And do get the DVD or unlimited streaming, you will need a few watches if you have not read the book.