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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-30 17:15:01
Edited:
2025-05-21 01:10:32
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Content

Hi everyone! This film is another that I had never heard of before and this one was a request through my Reactr page. There hasn't been a reaction of mine yet where I have felt like I need to encourage you to watch my review before the reaction itself, but I feel that way about this one because I'm bummed by my own reaction. 😅 I hope that whoever chooses to watch with me still has a good time, along with the original requestor. [Direct link here.]

Thanks so much for taking the time! 💛

✦ KL

Files

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction

Comments

Vince

One of my all time favs, but yeah, it can definitely feel impenetrable, especially on the first watch. It helps if you're familiar with the Le Carré novel(s) and that sorta milieu they evoke. It's quite dense and the movie is pretty sparing in doling out the exposition. Worth a rewatch if you ever feel up to it in the future, the vibes are immaculate if you're into this kind of thing. As a little side recommendation, this story was also adapted as a 7 episode BBC mini-series with Alec Guinness. That one's really good for anyone interested.

Steve Mercier

It's never not a good time to watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (sorry you don't like your own reaction).

Nicholas Bielik

I’m so happy to see this. Looking forward to watching along! The performances are pitch perfect here, and the period details are about as good as I’ve ever seen. Only Zodiac rivals this film in terms of a period accurate 1970s. Interestingly, Alec Guinness played Smiley in the BBC miniseries from the early 80s, and Guinness’s performance was so influential that it reframed how the author conceived the character. Oldman puts his own stamp on the character, but he also feels very much like the character in the book. The book is probably one of the best spy novels ever written. Smiley is essentially the anti-James Bond, and LeCarre’s work was a sort of reaction to Ian Fleming’s Bond novels. If you’re interested in more LeCarre films I’d recommend “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” or “A Most Wanted Man.”

Nicholas Bielik

Okay, I’ve now watched the reaction, and I think you were closer to the mark than you thought. I think you often were second guessing yourself sometimes, but it seemed like you picked up on the important stuff. The film is rich in small moments, and if you understand the context of what’s going on they hit harder on a second view. Prideaux asks Smiley about the other people in his network in Hungary, and Smiley says they were blown. That means that those people are probably dead. These are people who Prideaux would have known and worked with—it was his network essentially. The Russians knew Prideaux was coming because Hayden told them. So Haydon’s actions as the mole result in the man he loves being shot and tortured, Irena’s death, Ricky becoming a fugitive, the death of the British agent in Istanbul, and likely the deaths of everyone in Prideaux’s network in Hungary. The mess in Hungary, which Haydon arranged, allows them to force Control out of the picture—essentially giving the Russians free rein and protecting their mole. So, despite his love for Haydon, Prideaux’s actions at the end are a reckoning for what Haydon has done.

Nicholas Bielik

Btw the novel and the story are inspired by real life events. The author of the book, John LeCarre, served in the British intelligence services, and the mole in this book is loosely based on Kim Philby, a British spy, who was exposed as being a double agent for the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. Philby’s actions did immeasurable damage to the British intelligence services and resulted in a number of deaths.

Tyler Foster

I saw the movie in theaters back in 2011 and I can definitely say that I didn't really follow it at the time. Rewatched it for the first time since then with your reaction, and it was like night and day. I think if you read the whole plot through again right before your next viewing of the movie, you'll find it much easier to follow. The essence of the drama in the movie is that Smiley is an observer trying to interpret all of the possibilities that exists within everyone's behavior. When a character is hostile towards Cumberbatch's Guillam, for example, who they all suspect is potentially up to something but don't know what, are they just expressing a natural fear in a job where interoffice politics are especially cutthroat, or are they the mole covering their own tracks? And I don't think, going into this story, a newcomer can assume for certain that Smiley himself is not the mole -- he finds himself on a chess piece too, even though we later learn that Control did not think he was a suspect. Ultimately, the movie is kind of like a very dry and methodical whodunnit, and I think with that framework and knowing how things turn out, you'll grasp how the filmmaking is telling that story. Also, while I believe Smiley has a strong suspicion, even though he doesn't say it, I don't think anyone knows for sure that Irina is the woman who was killed during Jim Prideaux's torture. Jim Prideaux doesn't actually know her, only Ricki Tarr does, so Jim likely would've only described her to Smiley as a woman he was unfamiliar with. What makes the most sense is that Smiley deduces from the way that they were both carted off in the same way by the same people that they were likely taken to the same place, and therefore it would make the most sense for her to be the dead woman, so when he promises Ricki he'll help her, he knows there's likely nothing to be done. The director of this movie, Tomas Alfredson, is a Swedish filmmaker, who became famous after making the contemporary vampire classic Let the Right One In. After this, he went onto make a disastrous third film, The Snowman, a botched production which is most notable for having a poster that became an internet meme ("MISTER POLICE -- YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER -- I GAVE YOU ALL THE CLUES"). Another really notable crew member for you would be Hoyte van Hoytema, who Alfredson brought from Let the Right One In. It makes sense that you felt this movie was beautifully shot, not just because it is, but also because you've loved his work with Christopher Nolan, including Interstellar. Another great, great adaptation of Le Carre that I saw recently and really enjoyed was "The Little Drummer Girl" (2018), which aired as a mini-series on AMC. The show was directed by the phenomenal South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook, who is responsible for some contemporary classics, including the very dark Oldboy (2003) and The Handmaiden (2016), and the less-dark but still wickedly complex Decision to Leave (2022). These three films are in Korean, but this miniseries is in English (aside from a few lines here and there), and features a cast of top-shelf talent that you'll definitely recognize. If you're ever looking for a single-season miniseries that's nonetheless very substantial (hour-plus episodes with the same kind of elaborate detail as TTSS), keep it in mind. Park also recently directed another buzzy mini-series for HBO, "The Sympathizer," which is also largely in English (although at least part of it involves Vietnamese spies and thus is in Vietnamese), and features another all-star ensemble. I haven't watched this yet, but I did re-up my Max subscription for a year with it in mind. (Note that the discs I imported offered the Director's Cut of "Little Drummer Girl," so that's the version I recommend. There is also a movie adaptation of the same book from 1984, which I have not seen, but want to now.)