Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A Lone Wolf, Hunting His Own Pack

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Directed By: Tomas Alfredson

Written By: Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor, based on the novel by John le Carre

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciaran Hinds, Kathy Burke, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hardy.

Director of Photography: Hoyte Van Hoytema, Editor: Dino Jonsater, Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic, Original Music: Alberto Iglesias

Rated: R for language and some brief violence.

            When it comes to spies and the Cold War, especially across the pond in the United Kingdom, no name is more famous than James Bond. The Ian Fleming character is suave, sexy, dangerous, reckless, and everything the people want in their heroes. And then there’s George Smiley, the quiet and extremely reserved hero of a trilogy of novels by Britain’s other finest, John le Carré’. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley never shoots a gun, much less leave the apartments he works at. He’s not particularly charismatic and women seem nonexistent to him. He’s not even part of MI6—he’s retired. But he gets the job done, and the job no one wants to take on.

            Mr. le Carré’s novels are exacting and meticulous, and the latest adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy attempts a faithful preservation of the spirit of his novel. Having not read the novel, nor seen the Alec Guinness led miniseries from 1979, I went into Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with little idea how the Cold War tale would play out. Those expecting a James Bond will be severely disappointed, but it is in the details—the stern faces that rarely tell the truth, the subtle shifts in dialogue that unveil information, and the meticulous details of the environment that reveal secrets—that director Tomas Alfredson and his truly talented crafters bring to the film that reveal a number of pleasures.

Melancholia: A Bang To Replace Our Whimpers

Melancholia

Written and Directed By: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kirstin Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, and Brady Corbet.
Director of Photography: Manuel Alberto Claro, Editors: Molly M. Stensgaard and Morten Hojbjberg, Production Designer: Jette Lehmann
Rated: R for bringing the truth (sex, language, and more than disturbing imagery)

When describing the filmmaking qualities or narrative strategies of Lars Von Trier, one word shows up again and again: provocateur. The Danish director wants to get inside our skin, distort our comforts, and make us declare his vision of the world as false. This applies not only to his films like Dogville or Antichrist, but also to his personality off the screen. At the premiere of Antichrist at Cannes, he claimed God declared him the greatest director in the world. And this year, at the premiere of his latest film Melancholia, Mr. Von Trier went on a rant that ended by claiming himself a Nazi. Give it, the director was only joking, knowing the Cannes press core would eat such comments up (it did; the jury declared Mr. Von Trier persona non grata). But Mr. Von Trier was really loves watching those reactions nonetheless. This is a director who loves fucking with you.

And thus comes Melancholia, Mr. Von Trier’s latest, and surprisingly restrained examination once again of depression, except this time with a bang. The apocalyptic imagery that surrounds Melancholia not only makes for some moments of genuine shock, but there is certainly much more under this surface as well. Mr. Von Trier suffered from a severe depression in 2006 and has been slowly rebuilding himself as a person, including the blunt instrument that was Antichrist in 2009. But now with some distance, and a real provocation out of the way, Mr. Von Trier has created a more thoughtful approach to not only examining his own depression, but how to fuck with our perception of him as well.

New York Film Festival: Lars Von Trier's Melancholia

Melancholia

Directed By Lars Von Trier

Denmark

When describing the filmmaking qualities or narrative strategies of Lars Von Trier, one word shows up again and again: provocateur. The Danish director wants to get inside our skin, distort our comforts, and make us shout at his vision of the world as false. This applies not only to his films like Dogville or Antichrist, but also to his personality off the screen. At the premiere of Antichrist at Cannes, he claimed that God had declared him the greatest director in the world. And this year, at the premiere of his latest film Melancholia, Mr. Von Trier went on a rant that ended with him claiming himself a Nazi. Give it, the director was only joking, knowing the Cannes press core would eat such comments up (it did; the jury declared Mr. Von Trier persona non grata). But Mr. Von Trier was really loves watching those reactions nonetheless. This is a director who loves fucking with you.

And thus comes Melancholia, Mr. Von Trier’s latest, and surprisingly restrained examination once again of depression, except this time with a bang. The apocalyptic imagery that surrounds Melancholia not only makes for some moments of truly shock, but there is certainly much more under this surface as well. Mr. Von Trier suffered from a severe depression in 2006 and has been slowly rebuilding himself as a person, including the blunt instrument that was Antichrist in 2009. But now with some distance, and a real provocation out of the way, Mr. Von Trier has created a more thoughtful and shocking approach to not only examining his own depression, but how to fuck with us as well.