Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Nicole, Josh, Tyler

A slow burn cold war espionage thriller. While there is no action to speak of I will admit to being riveted for the entire running time only to find the pay off far more straight forward than I was hoping for. For a 70's spy movies there is decidedly less double crossing and paranoia going on for my tastes.

England looks dreary as ever. The recreation of the 70's is stunning. The actors are all great even if some of my favourites don't really have much to do. A stand out was Benedict Cumberbatch who was actually given some sort of action and a small and heartbreaking character beat that probably made him the most well rounded character of the bunch.

Tomas Alfredson keeps everything so detached you can barley make out what half the characters look like until their third of fourth scene when they might finally get a mid shot or god forbid, a close up. The audience is well removed from the proceedings and that can make it a bit of work but I've always enjoyed films that let an audience put two and two together.

Really really loved the score and soundtrack. I guess the more I think about it the only thing that lets it down is the deceptively simple mystery and complete lack of stakes. Sure there is tension in a few scenes but you never really have any doubt about what the outcome will be. If all feels very safe.