Review of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) by Jose Miguel G — 05 Feb 2017

Has some pretty clunky aspects, and the music threatened to ruin the whole mood (I guessed pretty quickly that the composer worked for Almodovar; what works in his movies is badly out of place in a chilly, restrained spy movie).

But there's a lot to love here, from the slow but tense pace to the gorgeous camera, the stacked cast, the lack of hand-holding. I loved the way the plot was structured: there's an abundance of unexplained (to the audience) details that you have to scramble to keep up with, but the singular driving plot device (which the film almost treats, amusingly, as a MacGuffin) remains clear from beginning to end, so you're never confused about character motivations or goals.

It's quite beautiful.