My humble review is based only on the text of the film and is not at all compared with the original and previous works.
Personal opinion, not academic. Different opinions are welcome, discussions are welcome.
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I'm glad I saw this film (hereinafter referred to as TTSS) in the cinema. I have to say, movies are made for the big screen, and always have been. Sitting in the dark, the sensual pleasure is incisively and vividly. For example, the vertigo caused by the three-dimensional painting-like wallpaper in the top office of the Circus, such as the circuitous stairs and the oppressive huge office in the Circus office building, and the British accent (not all London) that the spectators are crazy about. cavity), exquisitely cut tweed suits (the texture is almost clearly visible on the big screen), and the stature and face of the old men can only be described as suave.
But a fine film is much more than that.
The so-called exquisite, must first push all kinds of details. The details here are not those tasks of subduing the Tao, but the skills of showing the characters' emotions. Yes, I'd rather see this movie as an emotional drama. Everyone has strong and complex emotional entanglements. Naturally, there is no need to mention the places with a lot of ink. Some small places are still interesting. For example, the classmates have said a lot, when Peter was asked by George to clear the door, he asked his good friend to leave. I am not corrupt at all, but I have to admit that maybe this is the director's intention. For another example, it still happened to Peter. When he went to steal the telegram records, the girl in the registration room should have some relationship with Peter. Although it is only a small supporting role with five lines, these five sentences are enough to show that this woman has an extraordinary relationship with Peter compared with other employees, and that the actress' facial muscles are indeed controlled just right, so embarrassing One has to think more. This is the effect that director Alfredson pursues - he doesn't go into too much elaboration, he wants the audience to get information from the film, feel and judge for themselves.
This placid presentation has been criticized by some as "dull". This may be because the person making this comment is more accustomed to the narrative style and rhythm of the United States, and the British Empire (and even more - France) is difficult to suppress. But in fact peace is far from being dull. The amount of information in this movie is very large, so large that a considerable number of viewers cannot fully understand it after watching it once. From this point of view, it can be said that the director's thinking is quite meticulous. We often say that a good movie should not have redundancy. I personally insist that not only is there no redundancy in TTSS, but even every corner of the picture, every channel change in sound processing conveys information. These thoughts are even so meticulous that audiences who are accustomed to using movies as entertainment miss a lot before they can cheer up.
Please note that the genre of this film is Drama, Mystery and Thriller. As a thriller, TTSS's peaceful demeanor is a bit unique. Some shots are indeed R-rated, enough to show the director's strong taste. But the difference is that Hollywood and the whole world make good use of music to set up the atmosphere and use sound effects to highlight the horror, but it is not used much in this movie. Whenever there are bloody scenes such as murder and silence, the sound is calm (unless you need to shoot and other simultaneous sounds), if you don't look at the picture, you can't even hear any ups and downs. This kind of sudden visual effect without the aid of sound effects makes people feel a little embarrassed and sad after watching it. The director still decided to play the emotional card. It is said that women who are emotionally moved are not too rational. In fact, this point of view applies to movie audiences regardless of gender.
Now I finally have to talk about this emotional card. I sometimes even think that this is the best way for a director to save himself. The original book has 422 pages and the film is only 121 minutes. Only this way can complete the adaptation of the huge original book in just two hours, and can the story be cut off and the arm and leg are cut off in a limited time. The director wisely played down the logic of the whole film, using emotions and character relationships to attract the audience's attention, distracting them, leaving them no time to think and ask "why". The film is called a suspense film. From the perspective of narrative time, from the third minute, the audience knew that there was an insider lurking at the top of the Circus - which means that the scope of the suspects has been determined from the very beginning to only a few people, and to the 112th The mystery was revealed in minutes. So what were the 109 minutes in between?
From the perspective of the case-solver Smiley, he first lived a boring life of being forced to retire. At the 16th minute of the whole film (that is, the 13th minute after the audience knew about it), he knew the existence of the insider, and then used 68 Minutes to confirm this guess, plus intermittent boredom in my emotional little world, and 16 minutes of private interviews to ask Jim what happened the day Jim was shot on a business trip (in fact, he didn't ask any systematic answer) , and then, as if he was suddenly possessed by the soul of a primary school student in Wannian, listening to the recording, he suddenly understood what was going on. There's a little over ten minutes left to question Master Minister and a minor character at the top of the Circus. Then the truth came out.
Where does the director get the most ink? To give a few examples:
1. Smiley's wife Ann cheated, which made Smiley think about it, and it was very painful
2. Rikki Tarr was in love with a beautiful Soviet female agent with blond hair and long legs, and talked about work by the way ( It took about 12 minutes)
3. Ask Peter to go to the roundabout to steal the telegram records, and be called upstairs to chat (about 8 and a half minutes)
4. Smiley recalls the previous meeting with Kalar (about 6 minutes), of
course there are other scenes as well Very important, but the above points obviously play a large part in the film. Except for a scene that was secretly recorded that has nothing to do with emotion, the others are mainly emotional work supplemented by work, or even pure emotional monologue. In contrast, the information that should be important is compressed: how did Smiley deduce it, what kind of evidence and logical thinking, why the boss was dismissed, what is a witchcraft plan, what is the power struggle between the upper circle and the insider? relationship, and even how the right person was caught when the arrest plan was finally implemented, why did the Soviet Cultural Counselor Poliakov swagger away since he was involved, and so on. All these things have been weakened, and it can even be said that they have been abstracted into something similar to McGuffin. If the audience is truthful, many things don't make sense, but it doesn't matter, let these things be the background, let's look at the emotional entanglement.
So in TTSS, feelings are the main line, and betrayal and loyalty are the motifs. First of all, the most fundamental problem of a double agent is betrayal and loyalty; Bill betrayed the organization as an insider, betrayed Jim as a good friend, seduced Ann to betray Smiley as a colleague, and betrayed the blonde in the office as a fake playboy. The last sentence "I want to become famous" made him betray even the Soviet Union. The affair of Smiley's never-shown wife Ann is also an issue throughout, apparently the two of them haven't had a good relationship over the years, and Bill is just one of the issues. Unfortunately, Ann is really Smiley's weakness. When the marriage turns red, she can't work hard, and she also exposes her weakness to the enemy. Smiley is an old man who rounds up the field and is the boss's right-hand man, but when the boss suspected that there was an internal traitor, he actually counted Smiley as one. Judging from the old man's expression at the time (he is a calm person), it can be seen that he is very injured. . Connie is bluntly loyal to the country and the Circus. She recalls the old Circus's old friends and times, and believes that "the British would be proud of a real war." "Like throwing garbage" was sent home. Even love is betrayal: Irina fell in love with Tarr, and she would rather go to the UK for him; Tarr is sincere in love, but his "hope to be taken seriously" betrayed his beloved inadvertently. two intervals. Etc., etc.
After careful consideration, I began to feel that my emotional outlook was a little gloomy, but fortunately there were still some things that were firm and positive. After all, the first male Smiley is a representative figure who is loyal to the revolution and the party, and the final outcome is "evil does not overwhelm the righteous", which is very consistent with the mainstream traditional patriotism view of the world. Also, I've always admired Peter's loyalty to Smiley, which was deliberately set in TTSS. Note who Peter is: the head of the scalping group. This is a group specializing in assassination, tracking, and writing anonymous letters. Simply put, it is doing dirty work for other people. Maybe Peter's level is not too low, otherwise he wouldn't talk and laugh with the big gentlemen on the top floor, and he wouldn't be called Sir by the concierge grandpa; but after all, this group can't get on the table, and it's hard to forget a little bit after doing dirty work. Noble love of Great Britain's original intentions. He was kept by Smiley for some extra-system tasks, and gradually developed something like a combat friendship. He had no complaints about the job Smiley had given him, even if he had to risk stealing (and was told he couldn't give a reason if caught); even if he came back to see Tarr and felt instantly betrayed, it was just Played Tarr all over the place without breaking out on Smiley. His friendship with Smiley is gradually growing. When the leader is rude to him, it becomes more rude, starting to say "I need you to do something for me", and then simply "you are going to do something for me"; and when the subordinate starts to address him respectfully "Mr Smiley" and then pushed the door and called "George" loudly. In the end, they just smiled at each other without speaking. There was mutual trust and gradually increasing tacit understanding.
The relationships and emotions between the characters are actually the most condensed and exciting at the three Christmas balls, especially the last one. If the first two paragraphs still have the need for complex narrative, then almost all of the third paragraph is for the foreshadowing and catharsis of emotions. Only this time, the music at the dance party directly breaks away from the time and space constraints of the narrative and extends to the end of the film to form the climax (emotional) of the whole film. The final music is the live version of La Mer by Julio Iglesias. I don't know French, and I haven't found the director's explanation, so I still don't know the purpose of the music selection here, but I have to admit that the last paragraph is handled very well, and the actors are superbly skilled. , the information is explained in a simple and clear way, and at the end, a surprising stroke is left, the sensationalism and the ending go hand in hand, and some logic is blocked, and in the end, I try to make everyone happy.
A lot of people say that TTSS movies don't have many of the ingenious designs in the novels, and they don't have the full plot of the BBC TV series, but as a movie it is excellent. Everyone is very much like their parents, but we can't ask them to be the same. When watching a big emotional drama, it is very important to have fun; for the creator, letting the audience forget themselves is success. Watching a movie is originally a carnival and a dream. Don't be so serious, just enjoy it.
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