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Film Review: "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011)

"There's a mole, right at the top of the Circus. And he's been there for years." This is the premise of this adaption of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This British espionage film directed by Tomas Alfredson, adapted by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan based on the 1974 novel of the same name by John le Carré. Set in London in the early 1970s, the story follows the hunt for a Soviet double agent at the top of the British secret service.

The project began when Peter Morgan wrote a draft of the screenplay, which he offered to Working Title Films to produce. Morgan dropped out as the writer owing to personal reasons, but still served as an executive producer. Following Morgan's departure, Working Title hired Peter Straughan and his wife, Bridget O'Connor, to rewrite the script. Park Chan-wook (Oldboy (2003)) considered directing the film, but ultimately turned it down. Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In (2009)) was confirmed to direct on 9 July 2009. This marked the production as English language film debut. With a budget of $21 million, financially backed by France’s StudioCanal, principal photography began on October 7th 2010 and concluded on December 22nd in England.

The film stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley, and co-stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ciarán Hinds. Though the cast gave their best performances that they could offer, it felt rather stale and inferior to performances seen in other espionage spy thrillers such as the James Bond/007 films. Ultimately, it did not live up to the characters who filled this unique story by le Carré. The only performance that stood out the most was none other than George Smiley himself, Gary Oldman. Alfredson cast Gary Oldman in the role of Smiley, and described the actor as having "a great face" and "the quiet intensity and intelligence that's needed". Many actors were connected to the other roles at various points, but only days before filming started, Oldman was still the only lead actor who officially had been contracted. Originally, David Thewlis was in talks but declined. Oldman understood the illusion of being a nondescript sort of man with a remarkable mind, authority and a gutful of secrets, sorrows and sins behind the serious spectacles. His performance definitely deserves, at least, an Oscar nomination.

Grim, monotonous, and rather facile, though Gary Oldman's aging agent, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has some honest poignancy. The film is Self-consciously dour where the James Bond movies were insouciantly callous. However, it is an excellent contemporary espionage drama of the Cold War, which achieves solid impact via emphasis on human values, total absence of mechanical spy gimmickry, and perfectly controlled underplaying. The film makes you believe it could have happened. And that's the remarkable thing. Not one of the best espionage thrillers ever made, but it is certainly not the worst.

Simon says Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy receives:

Film Review: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011)

The film’s tagline reads "What is hidden in snow, comes forth in the thaw." Which is what this rendition of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo brings to the big screen. This English-language thriller film directed by David Fincher, adapted by Steven Zaillian, based on the Swedish novel by Stieg Larsson. The film follows a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist and his pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander as they investigate the disappearance of a wealthy patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.

The success of Stieg Larsson's novel created Hollywood interest in adapting the book, as became apparent in 2009, when Lynton and Pascal pursued the idea of developing an "American" version unrelated to the film adaptation released that year. By December, two major developments occurred for the project: Steven Zaillian, who had recently completed the script for Moneyball (2011), became the screenwriter, while producer Scott Rudin finalized a partnership allocating full copyrights to Sony. Zaillian, who was unfamiliar with the novel, got a copy from Rudin. After reading the book, the screenwriter did no research on the subject. Fincher, who was requested with partner Cean Chaffin by Sony executives to read the novel, was astounded by the series' size and success. Because Zaillian was already cultivating the screenplay, the director avoided interfering. After a conversation, Fincher was comfortable "they were headed in the same direction." Zaillian discussed many of the themes in Larsson's Millennium series with Fincher, taking the pair deeper into the novel's darker subjects, such as the psychological dissimilarities between rapists and murderers. Fincher was familiar with the concept, from projects such as Seven (1995) and Zodiac (2007). Zaillian commented, "A rapist, or at least our rapist, is about exercising his power over somebody. A serial killer is about destruction; they get off on destroying something. It's not about having power over something, it's about eliminating it. What thrills them is slightly different." The duo wanted to expose the novels' pivotal themes, particularly misogyny. Instead of the typical three-act structure, they reluctantly chose a five act structure, which Fincher pointed out is "very similar to a lot of TV cop dramas." The writing process consumed approximately six months, including three months creating notes and analyzing the novel. Zaillian noted that as time progressed, the writing accelerated. "As soon as you start making decisions," he explained, "you start cutting off all of the other possibilities of things that could happen. So with every decision that you make you are removing a whole bunch of other possibilities of where that story can go or what that character can do." Given the book's sizable length, Zaillian deleted elements to match Fincher's desired running time. Even so, Zaillan took significant departures from the book.

The film stars Daniel Craig, as Mikael Blomkvist, Rooney Mara, as Lisbeth Salander, Christopher Plummer, as Henrik Vanger, Stellan Skarsgård, as Martin Vanger, Robin Wright, as Erika Berger, Joely Richardson, as Anita Vanger, Steven Berkoff, as Dirch Frode, Goran Višnjić, as Dragan Armansky, and Yorick van Wageningen as Nils Bjurman. The cast gave one of the best, if not the best, performances of their careers. But, it was the film’s two leads that captured my attention. Craig was able to take his famous James Bond persona and was able to put a unique spin on it with his role as Blomkvist. Which did include adding bit of weight and bringing an espionage-esque feel to the investigations. But the true praise goes to none other than the girl with the dragon tattoo herself – Rooney Mara. Who gave a stellar performance as the famous hacker. She was the real star of the entire show, without a doubt. She was mesmerizing in the role. I could not keep my eyes off of her. She brought a multifaceted portrayal as the lean, fierce Salander that drew me in when I first read the book. She made Lisbeth Salander her own as Noomi Rapace did in the Swedish films. Overall, I pray that she gets, at least, an Oscar nomination. Because it’s just that good.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a brutal, relentlessly grimy shocker with taut performances, slick shocks, and an enthralling and haunting climax and finale. The film's ace in the hole is the personal appeal generated by Craig as the mature, cerebral journalist and Mara as the young, headstrong hacker. Not that the contrast is inspired or believable in itself. What gets to you is the prowess of the co-stars as they fill out sketchy character profiles. But the film truly belongs to Mara and her unrelenting, carefully detailed portrayal of the troubled young woman who learns not to give up a fight. It is a procedural thriller for the information age that spins your head in a new way, luring you into a vortex and then deeper still. Yet it's his very lack of pretense, coupled with a determination to get the facts down with maximum economy and objectivity, that gives the film its hard, bright integrity. As a crime saga and a contemporary piece, it works just fine. As an allegory of life in the computer age, it blew my mind. It’s an almost unerringly accurate evocation of modern life, not just Sweden. Forget the distorted emphasis on the socialist society and the icy backdrop that the novels indulge in; this is the city as it was experienced by most people who lived and worked there. It is meticulously crafted – Jeff Cronenweth's state-of-the-art digital cinematography has a richness indistinguishable from film – and it runs almost two hours and 40 minutes. Still, the movie holds you in its grip from start to finish. Fincher boldly (and some may think perversely) withholds the emotional and forensic payoff we're conditioned to expect from a big studio movie. By far, the best film of 2011!

Simon says The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo receives:

Film Review: "Hugo" (2011)

"This might be an adventure, and I've never had one before - outside of books, at least." This is exactly what Hugo brings to the screen as it brings to the classic children’s book to miraculous life. This 3D adventure drama film directed by legendary director Martin Scorsese, based on Brian Selznick's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The film is about a boy who lives alone in a Paris railway station and the enigmatic owner of a toy shop there.

GK Films acquired the screen rights to The Invention of Hugo Cabret shortly after the book was published in 2007. Initially, Chris Wedge (Ice Age (2002)) was signed in to direct the adaptation and John Logan was contracted to write the screenplay. The film was initially titled Hugo Cabret. Several actors were cast, including Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths. Hugo was originally budgeted at $100 million but due to overruns, the final budget was estimated to be between $156 million and $170 million. Filming began in London on June 29th 2010 and then moved to Paris for two weeks. Hugo is Scorsese's first film shot in 3D, of which the filmmaker remarked: "I found 3D to be really interesting, because the actors were more upfront emotionally. Their slightest move, their slightest intention is picked up much more precisely." The book was written and illustrated by Selznick himself. The book is filled with 284 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the book depends equally on its pictures as it does the actual words. Selznick himself has described the book as "not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things." And Scorsese, with the 3D technology, does exactly this and more. The 3D helps in deepening the film's sense of places and events. The film puts 3D in the hands of a worldclass film artist. Scorsese uses 3D with the delicacy and lyricism of a poet. You don't just watch this movie, you live it.

The film stars Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, and Jude Law. The cast gave amazing performances, filled with fantastical delight and wonder. Butterfield and Moretz both captured the essence of child-like curiousity, wonder and an apetite for adventure. But probably the best performance to rival the film’s child leads is none other than Georges Méliès himself – Sir Ben Kingsley. His performance was magnificent. Forever will the image of Kingsley playing the French pioneer will be embedded into my brain whenever I think of the real life figure.

Just as The Prestige (2006) explored the historical figure, Nikola Tesla, Hugo in turn explored a historical figure, the turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker - Georges Méliès, Méliès was a French illusionist turned filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès, a prolific innovator in the use of special effects, accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician". Two of his most well-known films are A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune (1902)) and The Impossible Voyage (Voyage à travers l'impossible (1904)). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his The Haunted Castle (Le Manoir du diable (1896)). Méliès died of cancer on January 21st, 1938 — just hours after the passing of Émile Cohl, another great French film pioneer. Before he died, he showed his friends one of his last drawings of a champagne bottle with the cork popped and bubbling over. He then told them: "Laugh, my friends. Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream your dreams." He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. The book’s primary inspiration is the true story of the turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker, his surviving films, and his collection of mechanical, wind-up figures called automata. Selznick decided to add automata to the storyline after reading Edison's Eve by Gaby Wood, which tells the story of Edison's attempt to create a talking wind up doll. Méliès actually had a set of automata, which were either sold or lost. At the end of his life Méliès was broke, even as his films were screening widely in the United States. He did work in a toy booth in a Paris railway station, hence the setting. Selznick drew Méliès's real door in the book.

While certainly ambitious—and every bit as visually dazzling as one might expect—unlike most 3D movies which emphasizes visual splendor at the expense of its source material's vibrant heart. Scorsese’s Hugo however emphasizes both visual splendor as well as the material’s vibrant heart in sync like clockwork. Scorsese is exactly the right person to adapt such a delicately rendered story, and his 3D feature plays like the amazing drawings and images from the mind of Méliès’s imagination, coming to life before our eyes. The film was a lot of fun and less a conventional movie adaptation than a magical, imaginative, vividly lavish theatrical celebration of the emotional and adventurous material that Selznick brought to our bookshelves with an almost child-like sense of wonder. Magnificent is the only word to describe Kingsley’s performance — one of the best movies by Scorsese so far, magical in its charm and connections, the film reveals nothing more than an epic yet intimate love letter to cinema. To conclude, it is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery and one of the best films of 2011.

Simon says Hugo receives: