Previously adapted into an acclaimed BBC miniseries in 1978, this pared-down version of John le Carré’s novel stars a well-cast Gary Oldman as George Smiley, the British spy played by Alec Guiness role in the miniseries. Smiley is aptly referred to as “The Anti-James Bond” in a recent Atlantic article by that name and is, one imagines, probably more typical of anyone whose profession requires the utmost care and covertness. A man in late middle age, he has recently retired, or been retired, along with his old boss, “Control” (John Hurt). He spends his time on ordinary chores like getting his glasses repaired and wonders what went wrong in his marriage. He does not stand out in a crowd or make a fuss over how he likes his martinis, if indeed he drinks martinis.
But, following a botched Hungarian operation in which an agent is shot, he becomes the ideal man to flush out a probable mole within “the Circus,” as the London MI6 headquarters is known. The Hungarian fiasco is the tense beginning; merely by varying his shots, director Tomas Alfredson (the Swede best known for Let the Right One In) creates a good deal of suspense. After that, not so much. Despite telegraphing a good deal of story into a two-hour window and featuring several significant characters, the pace is measured without particularly building tension. That is, it manages to be confusing yet slow, being most noteworthy for its sense of English gloom. Rather than the glamor of the Bond series, the emphasis is on the mundane and drab surroundings at headquarters, where in 1973 microfilm represents new technology. That’s fine, but only if used as a counterpoint to what is quietly happening, which is only the case sometimes. The story is reasonably revised to fit the needs of a feature, but the characters probably seem less noteworthy with screen time reduced.
viewed at Ritz 5 12/19/11 [PFS screening] and reviewed 12/19/11
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