"For Heaven's sake . . ,""Once sensed, this frog jumped out of the hotpot":
Tinker, Tailor,Soldier, Sailor,Rich Man, Poor Man.Beggar Man, Thief "Kant weight" to see it- [:D] was my first reaction to Turquoiseb almost forgotten not responded- "Tatoo-overshadowed"-review. After seeing it, meru, leaning on his danda, had the impression Turquoiseb had something else to hint to, to another kind of" night unto heresy" [;)] : You could almost feel and smell and taste the loss and emptiness of the world of the Cold War Era as well as remember, behind a frozen ice-flowers-window-crystal, the" hijacking of the mole hysteria" by the political system then in the Real and mirroring hijacking the "whack-a-mole hysteria" by and among the self proclaimed TMO pundit(ry) for their own personal gain and power mimicry game. Watching it brings a lot of baggage along with may be many TM oldsters here at FFL -- to this revisit of the Cold War great retelling of an enduring story of treachery and betrayal by those wanna be's you trusted and looked up to. This film is a ghost film.--- Reality check: "Tinker, Tailor" is partly based on the case of Kim Philby, who were recruited by the Soviets in the 1930s. (Mr. le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell, was a British spy whose cover was blown by Philby.1979, Sir Alec's image bore quiet resemblance to Peter, Lord Carrington, Foreign Secretary in the first Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher) --TMO in the end 70s?...let me check the progress of the Adoptive Admissions <message/300982> discussion. [:D] "Tinker, Tailor": Details and emphasis has changed,350 hours simplified to only 2 hours,Hungary instead of Czechoslovakia ,Guinness's turn is the Torah; Mr. Oldman's the Talmud, but wisely it doesn't reinvent Smiley as hinted in an early scene of Smiley buying the kind of oversize eyeglasses that Guinness wore. Beside the subtitle overgeneralization joke before and Turquoiseb laudatio for Swedish some may still ask, "why remakes?"and Mr Smiley-esk answer: "good screen writing is an oxymoron" and paraphrase Pete Seeger, "Where have all the writers gone?"-- Be aware of the impressive addition of the cinematically rich Christmas party sequence which IMHO fleshed out the plot and characters very effectively: For the eagle eyed viewer, John le Carre, the author of the books, appears in the Christmas party scene Has sombody interviewed him yet? PS"swinging the other way." Here we may say every generation is entitled to a chance to update the classics. Even Olivier's "Richard III"did not discourage McKellen and Spacey and his performance hasn't been 5 years ago IMHO great le Carré movie was "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold." It is a simpler story with shocking insights into the real spy game, and Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, and my beloved Oskar Werner were unforgetable. --- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > As with my review yesterday of "The Girls with the Dragon Tattoos," this > is really a review of two versions of the same story. In yesterday's > episode of Unasked-For Film Reviews For An Audience Who Will Probably > Never Watch The Films Being Reviewed :-), I came down firmly on the side > of the older version being better. In today's episode, strangely enough, > I'm swinging the other way. > > And that is nigh unto heresy, if you know the original BBC TV series > made of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" in 1979. That version starred Sir > Alec Guinness as George Smiley, and his performance in it is often > referred to (and rightly) as one of the pinnacles of his illustrious > career. So my preference for this new version should in no way be > construed to mean that I prefer Gary Oldman's performance to Alec > Guinness' in the same role. That's not the issue. It's that the > STORYTELLING of the new version of the film is better than the > storytelling of the older version. It's simply a better movie, on almost > all counts. > > The reason for this IMO is that they hired Tomas Alfredson (the Swedish > director of "Let The Right One In") to helm the making of this movie > version, and hired two talented writers (one of whom died during the > production) to pen it. And the three of them done good. Real good. With > only 127 minutes in which to tell their story, they did a better job > than the best BBC directors and writers of their era were able to do > with the same story in seven hours. > > The plot is as classic an example of Cold War Spy Storytelling now as it > was when John Le Carré penned it. "Control" (head of the British > Secret Service, played in this film by John Hurt) learns to his dismay > that there may be a mole in the top echelons of the "Circus." He sends > an operative to Budapest to find out who it is, but that operation turns > disastrously and publicly sour, and Control is forced to resign, taking > his top aide George Smiley with him. Fast forward a couple of years, and > the notion that there is a mole resurfaces. Control has died and the > four people he suspected are now in charge of the Circus, so Smiley is > brought out of retirement to find out who the mole might be. The twists > and turns are exquisite, Smiley personifying a master spy more akin to > Bobby Fischer than James Bond. It's been many years since I last read > the book, so I can't say for sure, but there is a possibility that this > latest retelling of the story may be better than le Carré's original > novel. > > It should be mentioned that Gary Oldman's performance in this film is as > understated as many of his past performances have been overstated, and > that's a good thing. But the bottom line for me yet again -- a growing > trend in TV and television -- is that if you want a classic British > story told well, hire a Swede to tell it. Tomas Alfredson even looks > like George Smiley. > > > [http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Tomas+Alfredson+2011+AFI+European+Un\ \ > ion+Showcase+iMt4YFCCaSKl.jpg] > http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Tomas+Alfredson+2011+AFI+European+Uni\ \ > on+Showcase+iMt4YFCCaSKl.jpg > <http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Tomas+Alfredson+2011+AFI+European+Un\ \ > ion+Showcase+iMt4YFCCaSKl.jpg> >
