Product: Tailor of Panama [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 1.0
Loved the book . . .
But did not like the movie. It is true that good books (and Le Carre's Tailor of Panama is fantastic) rarely translate well to the screen -- or at least they don't do so if the individuals making the film do not attempt to tell a story and do not remain faithful to the storyline that worked so well, so neatly and suspensefully in print. The film throughout is choppy, so much so that you only see bits and pieces extracted from the story. It was as if the filmmakers just wanted to show us their favorite parts, but the error was to leave out the flow of information that ties the whole thing together. It is vignettes, not plot; an advertisement for the book rather than a real movie. Characters appear and disappear with no real meaning, neither adequately explained nor fleshed out. The main characters themselves are contrived rather than realistic (the opposite of the book's characters) and the actors were quite awkward. Rush is miscast, unable to turn the Tailor into a sympathetic and wily character. His emotions tumble this way and that, and his use of several different English accents to suit several occasions becomes awfully annoying, particularly because he whispers rather than speaks his lines. I kept having to turn the volume higher and I still couldn't quite get what he was saying! Brosnan plays his usual stylish, arrogant male, gracefully strutting through the scenes but struggling with trying to convey that his character is perverted and ultimately evil -- he just comes off as confused. After a while, I started to think that this would have been a much better film if Rush and Brosnan had switched roles, much like I heard Redford and Newman switched theirs on the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Think of it -- Brosnan playing out all levels of emotion, from friendship to familial loyalty to false bravado to connivance to failures. I tend to think that only he should have been the Tailor; Rush was too frantic, too limited in scope. On the other hand, Rush as the eccentric, egotistical Osnard, an unattractive man with an inexplicable attraction for women. But the film is as it is -- just a tumbled together script, not very true to the book, with a lack of depth, too much focus on Osnard's sex scenes, too little concentration on what is actually going on, and an ending that is implausible. The only highlight is Jamie Lee Curtis, who is perfect, absolutely perfect, in her role. Each line she delivers and each sentiment is balanced between restraint and abandon. She shines as an exceptional character/actress in an otherwise dull, dragging and complicated film. Recommendation? Avoid the film and read the book.