Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

[lizbee]

I observed Australia Day by seeing a British movie, then watching the episode of Babylon 5 with the racist Australian, and finally reading a teen novel set in Port Adelaide during the 1928 wharfies' strike.  So that was patriotic. 

Setting out, suburbannoir and I found ourselves with the choice of going out to a suburban multiplex, or heading closer to the city to the trendy independent cinema.  We chose the 'burbs on account of how the food court options were superior, but then it turned out that the multiplex's best-value (for us) popcorn deal came with a free Muppet, so obviously we made the right choice.  (And we have the Fozzie to prove it!)

Hoyts may ahve misjudged the audience somewhat -- we were the youngest people in the cinema by about 15 years, but all the pre-trailer ads were aimed at school-leavers.  The trailers themselves were terrible -- we got:
- Clive Owen versus his moustache
- Liam Neeson versus WOLVES
- something about a CIA agent who's shocked and amazed that his bosses are doing something a bit sketchy
- something about two CIA agents competing for Reese Witherspoon, and breaking various international laws in the process.  I'm not sure, but I think this last one was meant to be a comedy.

After all that, Tinker Tailor was pretty amazing.  I'm really glad I saw it at the cinema, not because it was full of amazing special effects that needed to be seen on a big screen, but because it was really intricate and demanded my full attention, and if I'd been watching at home I'd have been reaching for my phone or looking up the cast on Wikipedia or making a quilt, or doing something other than concentrating.  And that would have been a shame.

Of course, one reason why it demanded so much attention is that I have trouble telling middle-aged white men apart.  That's an exaggeration for comedic effect: I'm not very good with faces in general, but generally I can tell women apart by their hair and clothes.  Put me in a situation where you have lots of people of the same race and roughly similar ages, dressing alike -- men in suits, basically -- and I'm a bit lost.  Until I was actually in the cinema, I believed that all the Tinker Tailor ads on bus shelters around the city featured Bill Nighy, not Gary Oldman.  And I know and like Bill Nighy's face!  (I'd know and like Gary Oldman's face, too, if it didn't keep changing!)  (And suburbannoir pointed out that if Bill Nighy had been in it, the entire film would have exploded from an excess of concentrated Britishness.)

In short, for me the cast went:  Smiley aka Gary Oldman In Glasses, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch + Benedict Cumberbatch's cheekbones and floppy ginger hair, Colin Firth, Caesar from Rome, the Dream Lord, that guy who isn't Jared Harris Mark Strong, and someone who I intially thought was Billie Piper in drag, but he turned out to be Tom Hardy. 

The women were a million times easier, since there were fewer of them and they all looked completely different from each other:  Belinda the Blonde, Beautiful Russian Lady, Random Kathy Bates, Lady Edith Crawley. 

Lots of unheralded flashbacks ("Which glasses are Gary Oldman wearing in this scene?  Oh, those.  Flashback, then."), which I think is why people found it hard to follow?  It all made sense, you just had to pay attention.  (Of course, one Amazon reviewer didn't realise it wasn't set in the present day, so.)  The climax was very low-key, but I had somehow expected that.  One for the DVD shelf -- even if the movie itself had been rubbish, the costume design made it a keeper.

Comments

[rhivolution]

I am lulzing. We got Liam Neeson VS WOLVES (The Grey?) too last night at Haywire. And the Chris Pine CIA agents one (This Means War); and if you mean the one with Denzel Washington in South Africa in a safe house by the 'shocked and amazed' one (called, cleverly, Safe House), we got that too.

Haywire was pretty good though.

[miss_s_b]

We got those at Haywire a couple of days ago here in Bradford too.

Lizbee: SOOOO Glad you liked Tinker Tailor.

[lizbee]

It was great! I'm going to read the book once I'm done with my current novel. I know some people found it too understated, but I felt like it was rewarding my attention.

[miss_s_b]

* nodnod *

I loved that you had to actually watch it.

[wolfy_writing]

It seriously took me ten minutes into the movie before I could work out for sure which one was Benedict Cumberbatch and which one was Tom Hardy. Which is ridiculous, as they don't particularly look alike, but I tend to recognize people by hair, and something in my brain was doing this weird "Young guy who has hair nothing like the guy from Sherlock=Tom Hardy! WAIT, WHY ARE THERE TWO TOM HARDYS?" thing.

The time didn't confuse me, though. Although apparently it confused a lot of people, as one of the theater employees actually stepped out in front before the movie started and told everyone that the trick to understanding the time was to watch Gary Oldman's glasses.

[sabra_n]

Liam Neeson versus WOLVES

Apparently that movie is actually good. Or about as good as a wilderness survival movie about fighting wolves can be. I know; I was surprised, too. :P

[sabotabby]

Hah, I freaking loved that movie. Gary Oldman's glasses should have gotten their own credit. (My friend just got new glasses, and he was like, "CHECK THEM OUT! SMILEY GLASSES!" and the world got that much better.)

I generally have a hard time telling white dudes apart, but having read the book, I didn't have too much trouble with this one. I kept wondering why Cumberbatch was blond, though. It was unnerving. Perfect for the character, but a bit uncanny valley for me.

[lizbee]

Yeah, I know it's closer to his natural hair, but I don't look at Cumberbatch and see a fair-headed man.

[nonelvis]

I *loved* this movie, and really should read the book. I remember hearing that the opening scene was supposed to be really confusing if you hadn't read the book, but honestly, I found that complaint confusing, because I had no trouble following things at all. The movie does demand a lot of attention, like you said, but I was so riveted that was no problem anyway.

Of course, one Amazon reviewer didn't realise it wasn't set in the present day, so.

That's ... unique.

[lizbee]

I did have trouble following what was happening in Hungary, but it made enough sense that it wasn't a problem, and I figured it was meant to be a stuff-up of such epic proportions that we weren't meant to have a clear idea of it until later. As turned out to be the case.

[holyschist]

I'm really glad I saw it at the cinema, not because it was full of amazing special effects that needed to be seen on a big screen, but because it was really intricate and demanded my full attention, and if I'd been watching at home I'd have been reaching for my phone or looking up the cast on Wikipedia or making a quilt, or doing something other than concentrating. And that would have been a shame.

That was my feeling about it, too. I really enjoyed it, but it was definitely an undivided attention sort of movie. (I...didn't consciously notice the glasses, but for some reason I didn't have trouble distinguishing flashbacks regardless. Huh.)

[nineveh_uk]

I used to be secretary to a committee in which I sent round a list of names people had to sign to ostensibly for the record, but really because it was 25 white men aged 55 - 67, most of whom I could tell apart, but nt all, particularly the three Men with Beards*. If all three were there it was fine, if only two or one were, I found it very difficult to identify which was which. Also, they all looked like variations on my Dad and Terry Pratchett.

I was fine with TTSS, though, albeit possibly because I knew the individual actors well enough.

*There were other men with beards present, but they were not the Men with Beards.