right after i finished watching the movie, i read roger ebert's review and was surprised to find that he didn't like it. a greater blasphemy, he gave 3.5 stars to very pg-13 sherlock holmes and only 3 stars for this movie. that is not right.
i like the atmospheric 70's london in the movie, it's foggy and everyone where black like no other colours exist. m16 is the place where tired old men spent at the heights of the cold war, sipping tea and whiskey in the eternal cigarette smoke now have to clean up their own house when a double agent is suspected to be working among them. gary oldman is such a pleasure to watch, i swear to god he could pass as queen elizabeth if he ever wanted to be her...he is that good. he is george smiley, the retired agent who was brought back into the game to find a mole amongst his former colleagues at m16. he is reticent but penetrating, sharp but close to defeated when his wife left him for another agent. it is the nature of the job where secrets and intrigues is the only currency for one to get ahead, trust is non-existent and everyone is suspected of something. when the mole is finally caught, he didn't even have a good answer for working for the other side - he merely said, the west got ugly.
this movie reminds me a type of character that i always like - the man who can not change. oldman reminds me of javier bardem is the dancer upstairs (2002). in the face of treachery and when anyone can be bought for almost nothing - we all depend on one thing to get us through - and that is loyalty.
there is one scene in the movie which was revisited several times - the christmas party scene. these people who keep secrets for a living get to go british-wild (haha!) drowning away worries in endless alcohol mixture and not so fun music, but that is as fun as it can get. i must also mention that the cast is superb, even when they sat around staring at each other in mistrust.
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