Tinker, Tailor Soldier, Spy

Audiences who grew up on high-octane spy thrillers of the James Bond variety may have trouble adjusting to the slower pace of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Not only is the film filled with a lot of talking, but a lot of the conversations heard in the film don’t always make sense, at least not in the traditional sense of story exposition. The key to enjoying this excellent adaptation of the popular (and equally demanding) best-seller from John le Carré is to not try to aggressively outguess the actors as the story unfolds. Slow your brain down. Watch the actors. Concentrate on the clues that are dropped in your lap and examine them carefully to see if they are real or red herrings, all the while keeping one eye on the screen because director Tomas Alfredson seems to have an almost sixth sense about when your mind wanders away from his story and seems to delight in picking just those moments to scare the heck out of you with some unexpected bit of shocking violence.