and this comment is officially now TOO LONG, here is part 2
- I think they're trying to show that everything is the job - even when it shouldn't be, even when you think it can't possibly be. The best example of this is I think Haydon's affair with Ann. - and also Guillam having to dump his partner and never even say why is another way to show that the risks in this line of work don't end when you go home at the end of the day - that everyone has some personal vulnerability. (except Roy Bland because he has zero screen time)
- I think Control's deteriorating mental state is shown - when Jim is shot he freezes up, he clearly feels persecuted by the rest of the office apart from Smiley. And I think Alleline got a lot more characterisation than Bill, at least until the end.
- I didn't guess who the mole was at all, and I'm usually quite good at getting things like that!
- despite Bill/Jim seeming obvious to people from the internet, I can tell you that ordinary cinemagoers (my parents, aunts, uncles etc) only just barely got it! and here's another reason why making Guillam gay is ok by me: it means that the intense male friendship-and-maybe-more between Jim and Bill is not the only gayness in the film, it means you don't end up with a correlation between 'potential homosexuality' and 'being a traitor'.
- I do think the film is intelligent - it requires a lot of attention to understand what's going on, and it all makes sense on a level that I didn't fully appreciate until I saw it for the second time - I actually enjoyed it more the second time because I kept noticing things, just small things, that added enormously to my appreciation of the film. The owl that Jim kills is mounted on the wall of his classroom when Smiley goes to see him. Guillam looks at his watch and groans during the archive heist - because he's got ahead of himself and moved too quickly. Everyone sings the Soviet anthem and thinks it's a great joke - except Esterhase, who (understandably) doesn't think it's funny at all.
- There are some things you mention - e.g. the lighter - which if they aren't in the book simply devices to tie the film together more neatly. There's a fantastic film called L.A. Confidential, adapted from a sprawling novel by James Ellroy, which uses a similar device, invented for the film, as a shortcut to allow a cop to realise in an instant the true nature of another character. It just ties the film together.
tl;dr comment by now probably as long as your actual post sorry
no subject
- I think they're trying to show that everything is the job - even when it shouldn't be, even when you think it can't possibly be. The best example of this is I think Haydon's affair with Ann. - and also Guillam having to dump his partner and never even say why is another way to show that the risks in this line of work don't end when you go home at the end of the day - that everyone has some personal vulnerability. (except Roy Bland because he has zero screen time)
- I think Control's deteriorating mental state is shown - when Jim is shot he freezes up, he clearly feels persecuted by the rest of the office apart from Smiley. And I think Alleline got a lot more characterisation than Bill, at least until the end.
- I didn't guess who the mole was at all, and I'm usually quite good at getting things like that!
- despite Bill/Jim seeming obvious to people from the internet, I can tell you that ordinary cinemagoers (my parents, aunts, uncles etc) only just barely got it! and here's another reason why making Guillam gay is ok by me: it means that the intense male friendship-and-maybe-more between Jim and Bill is not the only gayness in the film, it means you don't end up with a correlation between 'potential homosexuality' and 'being a traitor'.
- I do think the film is intelligent - it requires a lot of attention to understand what's going on, and it all makes sense on a level that I didn't fully appreciate until I saw it for the second time - I actually enjoyed it more the second time because I kept noticing things, just small things, that added enormously to my appreciation of the film. The owl that Jim kills is mounted on the wall of his classroom when Smiley goes to see him. Guillam looks at his watch and groans during the archive heist - because he's got ahead of himself and moved too quickly. Everyone sings the Soviet anthem and thinks it's a great joke - except Esterhase, who (understandably) doesn't think it's funny at all.
- There are some things you mention - e.g. the lighter - which if they aren't in the book simply devices to tie the film together more neatly. There's a fantastic film called L.A. Confidential, adapted from a sprawling novel by James Ellroy, which uses a similar device, invented for the film, as a shortcut to allow a cop to realise in an instant the true nature of another character. It just ties the film together.
tl;dr comment by now probably as long as your actual post sorry