Saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (thanks, Basil!) It was a spy thriller. Well, more subdued than a thriller, more like Enigma than James Bond, a sort of BBC Mystery meets Tom Clancy. Very classy (almost to a fault.) The colour pallet is subdued pastels and browns, even blood (when it comes) is a the almost black colour of red ink. The soundtrack is all brooding clarinets and obsessive violins. The film is set in early 70s London and stars a bunch of familiar Brits (such as this guy, this one here, and this other guy) who are MI6 managers of some kind. We find them in the wake of a disastrous liaison with a Hungarian operative, lead by a recent ex-chief who has vanished (more on this later.) The ex-chief was convinced there was a mole in the operation and it's up to the protagonist, Mr Smiley, to find out who it is (if a mole there be.)
The protagonist has a wife but we never see her. She is alluded to and we hear her voice in flashback. I assumed she was dead but it turns out that she isn't at all. It's just that this movie takes place in a world so obscured by shadows and half-heard details that every fact becomes a sort of crossword puzzle which must be solved. This is very interesting and would bear repeat viewings, but is a bit too much for poor old me. For example, I have no idea what happened to the ex-chief. I think he must have died, but I'm guessing. He just stops being in the film and probably some character darkly muttered he went on a trip or retired or something and I missed it! It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but the film's plot and exposition are a bit too baroque for me to follow.
That said, I believe this is mainly a product of the perverse way that I watch movies. If I were to watch it with other people (and therefore more eyes,) or again, or not in my usual post-coffee slump, I expect these 'mysteries' would readily unfold. I don't begrudge the film my confusion in any case. I kind of hope the movie does leave some things unexplained, just to heighten the theme of obscurity. It would be some much more interesting that way.
The film is dry but interesting, as watching someone solve a puzzle should be. There's enough torture and gun-shots to keep things interesting, but nothing is allowed to break the chilly atmosphere of the film. A thoughtful film. (Also, I was about to attack the little hints of homosexuality about one character as I thought gays were barred from British intelligence back then, but upon doing some research (ie googling,) it turns out that gays were actually kind of common. So I guess the film's historical accuracy should be lauded as well.)
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