Review: Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy director Tomas Alfredson, writer John le Carre, J Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbach, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong

A-cut-above. 70s’ London; tit for tat; spy for spy. Period detail is meticulously adhered to, and in tonal colour, run-down London is a lot like Moscow. There is a washed-out mood, tired, a between-states view point before the fall of the Berlin wall………So George Smiley adjusts his specs, comes out of semi-retirement, to catch a mole at the heart of a spy-ring. Potentially there are five suspects. Yet this is not a game of elimination, the film is far more subtle than that, but the clues are there from the beginning. The performances are terrific throughout, particularly Gary Oldman, with comparisons to  Sir Alec Guinness inevitable. His Smiley is tired, done-over. There are no dramatic outbursts just a slow, forward progress as he crosses and re-crosses an a-moral hinterland, and picks through the debris of a broken marriage.  The support cast are also fine, each keyed in to the film’s particular dystopian style and mood. The Christmas party complete with Lenin father Christmas mask, Russian anthem and a cameo appearance by John le Carre, is the only moment of irony, which intercuts the action. The direction is sharp and the music an eclectic mix of cool jazz……..