Hello Blogosphere!
So here’s what happened… This blog was originally set up by me and some friends as a place to be as rindunkulously geeky about films online as we are in real life, it was supposed to be fun but it never really got going mainly due to these few things…personal crisis (me), laziness and apathy (them).
Now I have decided that I’m going to give it another shot on my own, here goes…
Now I’ve been obsessively looking forward to Tinker, Tailor for SUCH a long time. I really love great British talky dramas about interesting, complex characters. Add to that the 70’s period setting, amazingly talented cast (mainly actors I have huge crushes on actually) and the fact that Tomas Alfredson directed mine and the good Dr Mark Kermode’s favourite film of 2009, the wonderful Vampire drama Let the Right One In, that really is an exciting cinematic event!
So usually when I build something up that much there will always be a touch of the anti-climax about it (The Kings Speech maybe?) but this time I was as thrilled and immersed as I’d hoped to be and as I’ve never read the book or seen the TV series, the story was completely fresh.
I also find the whole British Intelligence thing fascinating and have been a long-time fan of the BBC Drama Cambridge Spies. Although set in a different era (30’s) the themes of British propriety and repressed homosexuality, loyalty and betrayal are just as apparent.
With every aspect of this film reaching perfection; performances, cinematography, costumes, period detail and screenplay, I hope it’s slow pacing and cynical paranoid tone don’t put audiences off. The fact that it is completely subtle, doesn’t spoon feed you in any way and you really have to work hard to understand what’s going on, is a very rare thing in mainstream cinema these days and should be valued and cherished.
Gary Oldman – Best Actor Oscar if you please.