The sad fate of all spies | Bangkok Post: Arts & Culture

MOVIE REVIEW

Quote: "Small, podgy... His legs were short, his gait anything but agile, his dress costly, ill-fitting and extremely wet."

The Bangkok Post, courtesy of M Pictures, is giving away 10 prizes (two seats each) to see the Thailand premiere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on Jan 4 at SF Central World. To win just tell us the name of at least one movie that Gary Oldman used to star in. Email your answer and contact details to kongr@bangkokpost.co.th by tomorrow. We will get back to the winners early next week.

That's how John Le Carre describes George Smiley in his novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In the film version that opens in Bangkok on January 5, Smiley is played by Gary Oldman, a graceful actor who's neither small nor podgy, and whose legs are certainly not short. Despite the soggy English weather, he doesn't look remotely wet, either. But this is not a complaint against unfaithfulness; on the contrary, Oldman, one of the finest talents who's never been nominated for an Oscar, has given us a gripping version of the British spy in this devilishly atmospheric movie. Working with Swedish director Tomas Alfredson _ whose previous film was the chilling kid-vampire fairy tale Let the Right One In _ Oldman gently manoeuvres Smiley's wit and cunning through the Cold War labyrinth, while retaining the weight of personal worry on the pronounced creases of his face. Slow and slow-burning, this is one of the best spy films in recent memory.