Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The most sophisticated spy picture of all time. But beneath all the distant sleekness, it is seething. By focusing on "irrelevant" details, Alfredson is able to create a complex storyline that in other films would require long minutes of dialog and an explanatory voice-over monolog. Here, a stubborn silence is maintained, and only rarely a cursory sentence is uttered, seemingly about nothing. And that's the biggest positive (and for many, the biggest negative). If you're on the same page with the film, in the silent scenes where the two Englishmen look at each other over a cup of tea, you'll be on the edge of your seat, covered in sweat, because "you know he knows that him over there knows" and there's no need for it to be mentioned through dialog. If you don’t catch this movie train or if leaves without you then you'll have long minutes waiting for you, watching two Englishmen looking at each other with cups of tea in their hands, and you’ll get nothing out of it. The borderline is thin, but it separates one of the most powerful experiences of recent years from one of the most boring experiences of recent years. So, it is hardly a film for everyone, but at least because of the unusually confident and stylish “70s" directing, it’s worth seeing. Also because it is a prime example of how to adapt a complex and extensive book; it is not a slavish copy nor a mere illustration, but a real adaptation fully transformed into cinematic language. (16/08/2014)

I felt like a redneck in a posh restaurant who orders some incredibly expensive chef’s special and a thousand Euro bottle of wine and then, when they bring it, I lovingly reminisce of a pork schnitzel with a beer at the local pub. An incredibly well made spy drama whose potential to become an immediate modern genre classic is similar to, for instance, last year’s western True Grit, or Tomas Alfredson’s previous film, Let the Right One in. For me, however, it was too slow, with too much dialogue, too one dimensional and too long, which, together with the fact that spy dramas are not my favourite genre, resulted in my being unable to properly appreciate it. I’m sorry, but that’s the fact. (13/01/2012)

The direction is precise, with attention to details, even the unimportant ones when Alfredson is just playing around (a wasp in a car, a killed owl in a classroom), but otherwise the narrative is too distant and not very immersive. Gary Oldman displays an excruciating ease with silent glances and considered speeches, and is the brightest point of the entire film. Of course, there have been better spy plots. (27/01/2012)

I like films that keep me on my toes from start to finish, that don't explain everything and make me figure a lot of things out on my own (or at least think I did for a while), films that just ooze coldness, and films that talk a lot but don't push. And that's exactly what Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is. What’s that you say? That it’s boring? That's the last word that comes to my mind right now. I have a soft spot for spy stories, especially spy stories that have to do with Britain's MI6 and the Cold War, so I'm glad we finally got this gem. Stylishly old-fashioned direction, a hauntingly simple score, a top-notch cast and a script that handles Le Carré's premise admirably (though it's still quite a rewrite in places). The film can boldly take its place alongside the best such as Funeral in Berlin, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The Quiller Memorandum... And others. (20/09/2012)

It’s actually an absolutely brilliant espionage drama, but you have to watch it second by second, detail by detail. Only at that point that it stands out, and it’s hard to enjoy it when you’re tired from the day’s work and you look forward to sinking into your armchair in the evening, when this movie starts playing. That’s actually what I did and it wasn’t quite right. At times I was passing out from the fatigue while watching and despite the perfect acting performances, I was aware of the fact that it was boring and that the movie dragged. But what drags cannot run away, so there finally came the end which absolutely uplifted the whole movie, because like a proper espionage movie, it managed to surprise me several times. (03/04/2013)