Posts tagged John Hurt

“Definitely Not for Everyone”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

Tinker Tailof Soldier Spy appears as if the title is missing some obvious punctuation, which is an excellent metaphor for this excellent adaptation of the 1974 novel by British author John le Carre, which many audience members will also claim is missing details.

So, prepare to be confused, but also prepare to be thrilled if you make it to the end and then start thinking about it afterwards, because you cannot lose your concentration or let your mind wander for just one second while you are watching it.

Even so, this film is so convoluted that you are still not sure what all happens and what everything means, which is another excellent metaphor for the spy business back in the Cold War of the 1970s.

In fact, the director, Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson, said this in an interview about the film: “We tried to give as little information as possible. When you create music or theater or film that fits everyone, the quality and the personal touch can get lost.”

So, not only do we get as little information as possible, but there are also many scenes that are disjointed with no beginnings or ends, and the story is not told chronologically, but contains many shifts back and forth in time.

The story begins in 1973 with a British intelligence mission in Hungary that ends in failure. Consequently, the head of the British intelligence agency, MI6, who is called “Control” and played by John Hurt, is forced to resign, along with his Number 2 man, George Smiley, who is played by Gary Oldman.

However, not long after that, Smiley is called back into MI6 for a specific mission: to find a mole at the high level of MI6, who was planted there by the Russians.

Control had been working on discovering the mole himself before he left, and he had narrowed the mole’s identity down to five possibilities, whom he had referred to by the code names Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, and Spy.

In his investigation, Smiley learns that the fifth man whom Control suspected was Smiley himself.

So, are you up for a suspense thriller that does not contain any car chases or loud explosions, but does contain sex, nudity, murder, and intrigue?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a thinking person’s film that is definitely not for everyone.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”