My Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (10/10)

¨It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? ¨

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy might just be my favorite movie of the year. Director Tomas Alfredson caught my attention a few years ago with his Swedish film Let the Right One in, which in my  opinion is the best vampire film I`ve seen. This is a very different movie, but he still uses very similar techniques. He shoots several shots from a distance which sort of sets the mood of the story dealing with espionage, the setting is also very dark and grayish, and the story moves at a pretty slow pace, but at the same time the mystery and thrills are always there. This is how a spy thriller should be made; it`s about as realistic as any spy film could ever be. I`m sorry for all those Mission Impossible, James Bond, and Jason Bourne fans, but this is a far more superior thriller. Perhaps the action isn’t as entertaining or as easy to follow, but if you stick with this movie and put your complete attention specifically on these characters the result is truly satisfying. This isn’t a popcorn movie you can watch while you’re doing something else; you have to devote time and attention to it. My greatest fear is that viewers are becoming so numbed by mindless action scenes and special effects that we don’t even want to think about a movie while we`re watching it. Sometimes we just want to feel entertained, but we`re not willing to spend time focusing on the story and what is going on. We want everything put in front of us and don`t want to try to discover things on our own. If that is the case then Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is not the movie for you, but if you are into a well crafted mystery thriller than you will be in for a pleasant surprise like I was. This was one of the greatest viewing experiences I`ve had this year.

The movie takes place during the Cold War and its set in 1973 London. One of the head members of the British Intelligence Service, named Control (John Hurt), sends one of his agents (Mark Strong) on a special mission to Budapest. Control tells Jim that he received important and confidential information about one of his four top spies being a mole, which would explain why the Russians have been up to date with what is going on in England. Control`s four head spies are Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), Toby Esterhase (David Dencik), Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds), and Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), and he believes one of them is the mole. Control evens suspects his right hand man, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), so he orders Jim to go to Budapest and meet with his contact to find out who the traitor is. He has a code name for each one of the spies (tinker, tailor, soldier, and poorman). When Jim arrives at Budapest the mission goes wrong and it`s clear to Control that the traitor has found out and blown the mission once again. Control is forced to retire after the Budapest fiasco along with George Smiley. A year later Control passes away and one of the British ministers hires Smiley to discover who the mole is after he receives a phone call from a disappeared agent named Ricky Tarr (Tom Hardy) who claims to have information about the traitor. Smiley begins investigating with the help of another agent named Benedict Cumberbatch (Peter Guillam) and begins piecing things together through a series of interesting and eye-opening flashbacks.

The story is just really well made, it`s really smart, there is a lot of talking going on, and not much action, but it forces you to pay attention to every small detail of the movie. Once the movie is over, you feel like watching it all over again because you feel like you had missed some important details. I really loved this film and was completely satisfied with the movie. The performances are just great, Gary Oldman steals the show. He is so quiet and emotionless; what a really good spy probably looks like. You never know what is going through his mind, but you cant help but think he knows what he`s doing. Then there is Tom Hardy who is always great. He is probably the person who shows more emotion in this movie, but he is brilliant. Peter Guillam, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, and John Hurt are all terrific as well. The movie really has a seventies feel to it and I don’t think you can get closer to that time better than how Alfredson did. The casting, the setting, the filming, the editing, the soundtrack, everything about this film is just perfect. This film, along with Drive, were the best experiences I had with a movie this year. It isn`t a sexy or entertaining film, it will require your complete attention, but the payoff is completely worth it. The screenplay was also really well adapted from the John Le Carre lengthy novel. They were able to condense the story into two hours which is much shorter than the seven hour BBC television version starring Alec Guinness. I really loved this film and absolutely recommend it over any other spy thriller.

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My Review: Let the Right One In (9/10)

¨ Oscar, listen. Hit back! You`ve never hit back, have you? So do it! Hit back hard! ¨

(9/10) Låt Den Rätte Komma In is a great Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfredson based on the novel from John Ajvide Lindqvist of the same name which translated means Let The Right One In. Lindqvist also wrote the screenplay for this film so he helped Alfredson with the adaptation of his own novel which is based on a twelve year old girl (who actually has been a vampire for over two hundred years and hasn`t changed her physical appearance) and her relationship with a young kid named Oscar. The title of the film has to do with the vampire legend that they have to ask for permission before entering anyone`s home, they just can`t come in on their own free will. The atmosphere in this movie is great; the director quickly sets us in a very suspenseful state by locating us in a quiet and cold small Swedish town. The scenery is just beautiful with a lot of snow contrasting the dark town and contributing to the overall horror and suspense. I really loved how this movie was filmed. This is probably one of the best vampire movies I have seen because it is so different from the others and stands out alone in its genre. The violence is disturbing, but in a different way because it doesn`t actually show you everything that is going on. You are left imagining a lot of the violent acts because you see it from a distance or someone is in the way so you actually don`t see all the blood or the throat slicing, and the film really plays with your sensory senses because sometimes just imagining it is worse than seeing the violence. Interesting enough the vampire isn`t actually seen as a villain either because the director wants us to see things through her eyes.

At the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Oscar (Kare Hedebrant), a twelve year old boy who is bullied at school by three of his classmates. He is a very quiet kid, but is also very smart. At home he lives alone with his mother and is constantly dreaming of getting revenge. He plays with a knife and constantly repeats the words ¨squeal, squeal like a pig¨ probably making reference to the fact that in school they call him a pig and constantly make fun of him. He also seems to collect clips from the newspapers of violent acts. Oscar is a quiet and sweet kid, but he does have these violent daydreams. It is during one of these daydreams that Oscar sees a man and a young girl move into the apartment complex where Oscar lives. The girl´s name is Eli (Lina Leandersson) and he quickly becomes friends with her although she only goes out at night and dresses very lightly considering the freezing weather (all details which capture Oscar`s attention). Eli and Oscar become friends and she tells him not to allow the other kids to treat him that way, and that he must fight back and hit harder in order to gain their respect. Since Eli lives in the apartment next door to his, Oscar figures out how to communicate with Eli with Morse code and their relationship continues to build. What he doesn`t know is that Eli is actually a two hundred year old vampire and that the man that lives with her is not actually her father, but a serial killer who is in charge of bringing her fresh blood from his victims. His name is Hakan (Per Ragnar) and he doesn`t like Oscar very much. Soon Oscar discovers Eli`s real identity and will have to choose if he wants to continue with her friendship or judge her actions.

This is without a doubt a movie that will be remade in Hollywood because the story is original and gripping. Hollywood has run out of ideas and is actually remaking a lot of foreign film. My advice is go see the original versions because they are much better. It will be very difficult for any vampire movie to top this one because the mood and suspense of the film capture your attention from the very beginning. Also the chemistry between Hedebrant and Leandersson will be very hard to equal because their performances are just brilliant despite their young ages. The movie is very unique and beautifully shot, the scenery is captivating, and the mystery mixed with the romance works well. If you disliked the Twilight saga (which wasn`t my case), don`t worry you will probably love this film because it has a completely different tone and mood. Please go see this film in its original version because it is worth your time. The final ten minutes of the film are very intense. Brilliant movie!