For You Anticipation: I Know What I Am

Quite easily the most intriguing film on the late 2011 slate of this year, Tomas Alfredson's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" has always put itself forth as a good old fashioned potboiler. True, it's a mystery with a definite answer that may ruin the film on further viewings. But Alfredson knows how to layer a world beyond simple trickery, as shown in his Swedish adaptation of "Let the Right One In". He brings his interest to England slate, turning it into a bleak landscape of bleak individuals. It helps that most of these characters are played by esteemed Brits, and it helps even more to give Gary Oldman top billing on your feature.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" Trailer 3

Another trailer? How aggressively are they going to pound this film into our subconscious? It's easy to think this trailer is overkill if it weren't for the fact that the film doesn't premiere stateside until December. Earlier today I spoke of Oldman's Oscar chances on this film. The film itself, in a decent world, should have Oscar chances as well. Far be it from me to call it a lock, but this trailer plays up its more mainstream aspects, and that'll get people in the door. Allow Alfredson and his boys to take it from there.

On Oldman and Smiley

Earlier on this week I spoke of Oldman's Best Actor chances being significantly lessened by an ensemble effect of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". I may have spoken a tad bit too soon, and I'd be quite happy to be wrong. Oldman has been routinely overlooked by the Academy for years, so intensely so that it's hard not to discount him on the slightest word of doubt. The clips since then, and most notably this featurette for the film, put a strong sense of reserve in Oldman's corner, and indeed the film's. That may work in his opposition, but I have a feeling it'll work in his favor.

VENICE: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" Reactions

I think "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" has been the main player in many ways heading into this fall, but most of the buzz seemed to gravitate around Gary Oldman's "lead performance" and what his Oscar chances were. The first reviews for Tomas Alfredson's film do enough to change the field of our first speculations. Word is that this is less an Oldman vehicle than an ensemble piece, which is very much what I gathered from the trailer. It does seem like something of a shame, as this was Oldman's biggest Oscar opportunity in recent memory. The man is far overdue. As for the film itself, there are generally positive ramblings going on. I can see it being a Best Picture play for sure.

Guy Lodge (In Contention; ***1/2 out of 4): "Rarely has a perversely beautiful lack of vitality been so integral to a film’s success: for all the accomplished work done on the storytelling front, principal memories of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" may well linger on Maria Djurkovic’s splendidly down-at-heel production design, a veritable rabbit-warren of graying wood, petrified office furniture and gloriously tasteless bursts of contemporary modernism, like the queasily orange graphic pattern that papers the Circus’s main conference room. Everyone on set and off seems to have taken their cue from these worn-in but hardly comforting surroundings — Alberto Iglesias’s mournfully brass-heavy score is another asset."

Alfredson's "Tinker, Tailor" Set Back to December

This is an irritant move by Focus Features, but not at all one I'm surprised to announce. Focus Features has pushed back the U.S. release of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" to the annals of December. The thing is, the film is still set for a U.K release in mid-September, so this move isn't just irritating, but a tad illogical. One can assume that plenty of leaked versions of the film will make it online before its release in December.

Yes, I can understand Focus' need not to contend with close competition of films such as "Carnage", "The Artist", and its like, but at this point they have more to earn from moving the film up than pushing it back. With the Venice Film Festival only two days away now, and Tomas Alfredson's film set to appear by next Monday, it seems like an appropriate time to put this news out there. As usual, America proves to be the least interesting place in the world.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" Trailer

I'm not sure why the marketing team behind this film is so bent on using thumping and sinisterly effective scores from films I hated, but now they've gotten around to using one of themes from X-Men: First Class. Sadly, all of this is rather misleading to what the actual film will be like. I don't imagine Tomas Alfredson will be using loud and thumping scores too much in his film, and the trailer focuses very much on all the concrete aspects of the story. Yes, it's just as effective as the previous trailer, but can't we get something more?

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" Poster

It matters not to me if you spend the hours of laborious geek-work to decode the numbers displayed in this poster. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy remains one of my more anticipated films of this fall, and I can't imagine it failing.