Foggy Reviews: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - "It's going to take 5 hours to get drunk on the monkey piss"

Why did I post that quote from the film in my heading, well that's easy. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is long, really, goddamn long.

It relentlessly punishes the ill-patient, and hangs the people who fail to follow the plot. It's the very definition of an anti-mainstream film, any typical part-time filmgoers are going to be tortured non-stop for the 2 hours 10 minutes the film goes on for. But, maybe, just maybe, I underestimate everyone, and they will enjoy the film as much as me, and my two friends. (Because out of a large group of 50 or so close friends, only 1 wanted to watch it, and out of his 50 or so close friends, only one wanted to watch it, you see my doubts)

Hopefully, the salvation of these people who might struggle to follow the film is the huge fact that it is visually hypnotising, I often found myself in awe at how well framed the film was, I can't think of a single shot that didn't look great in the entire film. It is a film which has each frame of it tailor made (haha!) to both look eerie, dark and gloomy, while also looking beautiful, and this is all while staying restrictive to look like a product of 1960's spy thrillers, and not a modern day film (excluding a few parts of mediocre CGI).

Once you get past it visually, you look at it intellectually, you will see a fantastically structured multi-layered plot, that does zero pandering to the audience, and forces them to look into the subtleties of the screen, causing you to be once again, hypnotised. I'll come clean and I will say I did get a few characters names mixed up, which caused a bit of confusion between dialogue and actions on screen, but if anything this only makes me want to watch it again, especially considering that ending.

All throughout the film, I kept seeing my friend whip out his phone to check the time, now although he said he found the film amazing, he was still having to check how much longer the film has to go for. I had a similar feeling, although the film is amazing, and sitting there I was being wowed by it. There was a thought that entered my brain half an hour towards the end that said, ok, pull out your big guns and blow me away film, or else you are not worth my time. The more you sit there, the more you think that the climax better impress you. The good news is that the film doesn't change pace, it doesn't loose it's way, it does it ending it's way and it does it terrifically. It seals the deal as a piece of terrific filmmaking, and sets the bar very high for the Oscars next year.

Icing on the cake, the acting.

This is a film that is choke full of great actors, all doing great acting work. I think they would all deserve to be nominated, but the star that come through the best to me is Mark Strong, for the very powerful emotions he has to deal with throughout the film, and a far deeper mystery behind his character that is not really shown, but heavily implied. However everyone is fantastic, Tom Hardy comes a close second.

And Gary Oldman has that Best Actor nod in the bag, to early to tell if he has got the award, but at the moment, he's a safe bet. He plays Smiley, a mild-mannered although very drained retired MI6 agent who is a part of the circus (the people who deal with foreign intelligence, for those not in the know, which you will need to be), his acting, like most the film, is very subtle, and you can tell that he is very much effected by the revelation that one of his colleges is a spy, and the fact that he was believed to be as well.

Thomas Alfredson is quickly become one of the great modern directors with one of the most fresh and distinctive styles in cinema, comparisons between this and his debut film, Let The Right One In, are through his style. Ironically enough, one of the problems I had with Let The Right One In is that you focus so much on the subtitles, you miss all the fantastic visuals and cinematography.

So I'll say it again, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy is hypnotising to watch, you literally can not take your eyes of the screen throughout it's entire runtime. You can not zone out for a second for the fear that you will be prosecuted by the film for doing so. Tinker Tailor knows it's for adults, for film lovers, and for people who just generally want to see it, and by doing that it rewards them for treating them that very way, you just better get ready and expect that once it hits, or else your going to fell that arse get numb on that seat for an extremely long 2 hours 10 mins.