MovieChat Forums > Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2012) Discussion > This movie makes my brain hurt

This movie makes my brain hurt

posted 6 years ago by brux (14666)
6 replies | jump to latest

It is like someone took a bunch of scenes and cut then together
with no point and no explanation. Oh, I get the general gist, that
Gary Oldman is brought back to find a mole in the spy organization,
but there is no continuity or story here.

What I think is that this movie was made for people who had already
read the book ... maybe several times!

What was the point of the shooting the guy in Budapest in the sidewalk
cafe ... and then the mother with the baby shot in the head?

What was the school scene with the owl in the chimney and the kid
Bill talking to the teacher in his travel trailer?

Who is the portly older woman in the large estate who was fired from
the "Circus" who was talking about being seriously under-fucked.

I don't even know if I am asking the right questions.

This movie is so confusing. I usually like the more realistic spy stories
as opposed to the James Bond nonsense or otherwise, but this movie
doesn't seem to make sense.

What is the point in giving Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading
Role Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) to Gary Oldman for a role in an
impossible to figure out movie?

Is there a point to this movie, is there some way of looking at it that
makes sense?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Better if you stick to "Six Underground" or stuff like that. Leave this rather excellent film to your betters.

[–] MichaelJPollock (649) 4 years ago

If you had to guess, what would you say your replying to a 3 years old message in the uninformed, condescending and unproductive manner you did tells the world about yourself?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Go to politics if you must write bullshit. This here's a board for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. A very well written and executed movie I might add.

[–] MichaelJPollock (649) 4 years ago

So you DO have an idea then.

[–] MichaelJPollock (649) 4 years ago

Why? Wasn't your reply to the OP a post about your broadcasting your own narcissism and insecurities to people on this board? It had nothing to do with 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' either.

[–] MrFilmJunkie (857) 4 years ago

i was confused as well, when i watched it for the first time, after rewatching things got clearer, though i'm still not 100% sure, but i'll try:

What was the point of the shooting the guy in Budapest in the sidewalk cafe ... and then the mother with the baby shot in the head?

the agent went to budapest on behalf of "control" (john hurt) to get the information on the mole from a defecting hungarian general, but it turned out to be a trap.
the woman being shot, too, was just a "colleteral damage" i suppose.

What was the school scene with the owl in the chimney and the kid Bill talking to the teacher in his travel trailer?

not sure about the bird, maybe a metaphor for an intruder (aka mole)? the teacher is the agent from your previous question: he wasn't actually shot dead, he survived, but was subsequently tortured by the russians, he gave them all information he could provide, so they released him. after he got free he started to take a new identity and worked as a teacher.

Who is the portly older woman in the large estate who was fired from the "Circus" who was talking about being seriously under-fucked.

she was an agent who got fired after she expressed suspicions about the existence of a mole in the circus. apart from that, i think she isn't from great significance for the plot.