Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (novel, miniseries, and forthcoming film to be directed by Tomas Alfredson)

you really see no difference in how the character is represented? the repression is all there is in the movie!

obv the miniseries gives it a lot more room to breathe, but there are plenty of scenes in the movie where smiley's feelings and emotions are pretty plain—the xmas party, the last scene with haydon, the scene with toby. he's a restrained—i guess repressed?—character but that is far from all the movie shows of him.

i felt like Alec Guiness' portrayal conveyed more warmth. His face was more expressive.

u just had subliminal memories of obi-wan

yah i saw this, adep. i liked several minutes of it.

i dont know if i saw any warmth (i'd say he was colder than oldman actually), but yeah more expressive. and it's still a restrained, almost minimalist performance, but he's playing a more credible character

obv the miniseries gives it a lot more room to breathe, but there are plenty of scenes in the movie where smiley's feelings and emotions are pretty plain—the xmas party, the last scene with haydon, the scene with toby. he's a restrained—i guess repressed?—character but that is far from all the movie shows of him.

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Monday, March 12, 2012 3:30 PM (23 seconds ago) Bookmark

right, and the reason those moments are effective is because it's a rare crack in the armor. in the first episode of the show, we see smiley being constantly made to look impotent, and see his frustration and disillusionment in the car conversation with guillam. in the movie, guillam asks george about ann and he does the gaze-ahead-like-a-zombie thing and we cut to the meeting with lacon. and the movie keeps hitting that note over and over. right off the bat, the movie is defining the smiley character differently, for better or worse. so i don't get "it's all there" - cuz it aint

http://hustongrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wimpy3.jpg

haha i think ward posted that upthread.

i think its possible i really just liked the last few shots. i feel like the filmmakers would do a better job w/ 'smileys people', somehow, maybe.

how does guillam feel, working for smiley? working for someone, yet, that working for whom requires his sitting, in a wimpy, wearing a suit, eating with a knife and fork?

i think yr right that the film privileges a blank exteriority for no good reason, or because it mistakes that for constituting a style

wimpy is obv about the worst example imaginable but i think i stand by that

how does guillaum feel? well the scene where he SITS ALONE SOBBING AT HIS PAINFUL SACRIFICE probably indicates something of that, that didnt seem too blank to me

i think it's pretty phenomenal how the movie has pretty much the same... character, pacing and tone as smiley himself

and i dont see how it needs to show his impotence any more than it does... we already see him disgraced, fired, and cuckolded, i think we are pretty good on that score

how does guillam feel, working for smiley? working for someone, yet, that working for whom requires his sitting, in a wimpy, wearing a suit, eating with a knife and fork?

also, how does that one shot not tell you all that already?

i'm sorry i hurt you

you dont get it, you hurt yourself

a blank exteriority

Like most whodunnits, it really doesn't matter much whodunnit in this, which I just saw. It's well directed and acted, which is all that counts, I suppose. I was put off by the make-up, of all things, which made everyone look like creepy perfect-skin mannequins.

So, finally saw this -- good watch, first time through I felt it was more admirable than great but a second viewing helped tease out some moments a bit more. Also I think the first time through I was getting my head around the various elisions and shifts from the book/miniseries (took me a second to realize that the Jerry Westerby character in the film is actually the duty officer character but with Westerby's name).

Surprised nobody's seemed to have said anything about the music yet? Not the original score so much, which I think was half OTM half unnecessary, but music as a theme is constant throughout -- the occasional contemporary pop drop-ins, George Formby's "Oh Mr. Wu," and that soundtracking of the final minutes to Julio Iglesias's reworking of Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcp3_OT2-0

I liked how the soundtrack wasn't all suspensey. Also no idea why they chose the Iglesias (live!) track but it works great. Also it's La Mer, which Beyond the Sea was based on

I really liked Oldman's interpretation of Smiley.

The only thing that bothered me at first was how Mad Men-y it felt with the way it was shot, like all very pleased with its furnishings and interiors and period details and I was like uggggghhhh is this going to be furniture porn

but i got over that pretty quickly. Didn't much care for Firth, who seemed really not to act at all but just be his usual self...but everyone else was great.

Also it's La Mer, which Beyond the Sea was based on

Ah, got it, wasn't sure which direction it went. A great use of music, all this lush French chattiness and sweeping style and everything over images of crushed people and Smiley perversely triumphant.

Bordwell did a follow up post, BTW:

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/02/20/tinker-tailor-once-more-tradecraft/

Also I'm amused by this interview just because of the photo -- damn does Alfredsson look out of place:

http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-live/images/TTSS.jpg

reading Mailer's Harlot's Ghost at the moment makes me wonder what an adaptation would be like.

i don't think it wd be a good idea

btw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mer_(song)

started listening to the commentary last night (alfredsson and oldman), it's a bit sparse but lots of great stuff.

btw i think the wooden gizmo is a wedge for improving the stability of Prideaux' caravan, quite possibly as per the book.

― Dios mio! This kid is FUN to hit! (Noodle Vague), Saturday, September 24, 2011 8:20 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wd've liked it a bit denser and darker tbh

― Dios mio! This kid is FUN to hit! (Noodle Vague), Saturday, September 24, 2011 8:21 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Jeez, give him a break, he worked hard on it

This film was magnificent.

yes it is perfection

http://i.imgur.com/gskk2.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idUjpNL53RE

that = pure cinema.

this film was poop

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/Smiley-1-300.jpg http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/Smiley-2.jpg

God the ending of this movie is so fucking good

OTM

u mad

great movie

mark strong kills me in that clip every time.

DG i believe it is "u" who is the one who is "mad" in this instance

and ya the way m-strong kind of adjusts himself after noticing colin firth looking at him is about as good as it gets

i dance like esterhase in that clip

move like esterhase

nah s1ocki this film was crap

hmm, guess i overlooked that inconvenient lil fact

yes

if i've read the karla trilogy and spy who came in from the cold can i basically read whatever le carre i want next?

Just finished reading Smiley's People a couple days ago and I really hope that movie actually happens. Funny to read through all the long slow conversations and imagine how they would have to be cut down to 45 seconds of screen time.