We, The Infected

http://denseclarity-cleardensity.blogsp ... tomas.html

Not so much a review of the story, but of Tomas' storytelling technique.

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Nice review.I liked it because I love this film. I just wish that these numerous examinations of TTSS would not be so dependent on copious praises of movie's
art production, sound design or soundtrack. These days you sort of expect all these things to be of optimum quality(with some exceptions of course).
Author should have concentrated of Tomas Alfredson's considerable storytelling skills which were so masterfully utilised in Let The Right One In and in TTSS.
It seems to me that TA is batting a thousand as a proficient film director and I would love to hear more about the process of fleshing out a successful narrative
much more then tales of visual and aural accomplishments, which I'm already a fan of.
As far as the lack of women in the film goes...well I never read the book, but if one should use BBC miniseries as an example the author would see that
it features about the same amount of women characters illustrating the fact that Circus was for the most part a boys club...nothing else.
Also, I love Tom Hardy's hair in the film...I think it's spot on.

Nice review, but

Was it just me that didn't work out it was Colin Firth?

It was an all star cast. To me it could have been anybody.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" related spoiler ahead!
Unlike "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" remake, I dragged my friends to the cinema to see it (we don't have the same taste in films), and they knew who the bad guy was straight away because they recognised him, it's Stellan Skarsgård! He's a super well known face, even to those not well versed in foreign language or non-mainstream films. That's an obvious one, not TTSS.


Also I agree with Nightrider, I love Tom Hardy's hair.

Makalli wrote: Was it just me that didn't work out it was Colin Firth?

It was an all star cast. To me it could have been anybody.

I did not have a problem withColin Firth being in the film. It's true that anybody could have played Bill Haydon, but as you say It was an all star cast and if you get the chance to direct a showpiece like TTSS you might as well employ all the big guns you can get. Plus, it really couldn't have been an unknown since in the BBC production as well as in the novel( I was told) Bill Haydon has quite a lot to do....much more than he does in the movie. It had to be someone who could hold their own with the likes of Oldman and company.

Author should have concentrated of Tomas Alfredson's considerable storytelling skills which were so masterfully utilised in Let The Right One In and in TTSS.

What I find most interesting about TA's Storytelling skills is that it is so purely visual based....For the most part, he relies heavily on the visual and nothing more.

Think about this...Guilliam never once makes mention of his homosexual lifestyle. In fact, no one in the film ever once makes mention of it. Put this is in the hands of another director and surely they would have probably felt they needed to add a bit of dialog or exposition to the proceedings. But not Tomas. Tomas relies solely on the visual. Even when we are introduced to Guilliam's lover, it's never explicitly stated that they are lovers. The visual and the soundtract suggests it, yet the film never explains it like it might do in the hands of a less confident director. So basically, every story facet is built from the visual rather then exposition...much like it did with LTROI...after all LTROI doesn't explain in certain scenes, instead it just relies on the Visual to tell the story and have the audience play along.

Both LTROI and TTSS don't really hit you over the head in terms of repeating themselves with exposition. One of my favourite moments in TTSS is such a simple understated scene yet it tells us so much about the character of Smiley, even though it's a very short scene.

That scene would be the Car Ride with the Beekeeper and Guillam. The loose bee in the car. It's the way Smiley reacts to the situation that manages to tell us so much about his character, and it's done in one breif visual moment. The way he very calmly lets the fly remove itself from the car by simply opening the window. He doesn't swat at it, doesn't get frustrated by it, he just lets it remove itself in a cool calm demeanor.

It's one brief visual moment, but it tells us so much about Smiley and the problem solver he is. But it also shows how he can keep restraint over himself...which is then contrasted later in on the film when he is internally debating with himself just as the Mole is about to walk into his trap

Anyways skip to the end...that's basically what I love about his work (or what I've seen so far)...he is a director who is so confident in the strengh of the visual and the effect it will have in playing out the narrative. His narrative structure is purely visual and he has the confidence to let it play like it does instead of feeling the need to overexplain or repeat himself

Nightrider wrote:Nice review.I liked it because I love this film. I just wish that these numerous examinations of TTSS would not be so dependent on copious praises of movie's
art production, sound design or soundtrack. These days you sort of expect all these things to be of optimum quality(with some exceptions of course).
Author should have concentrated of Tomas Alfredson's considerable storytelling skills which were so masterfully utilised in Let The Right One In and in TTSS.
It seems to me that TA is batting a thousand as a proficient film director and I would love to hear more about the process of fleshing out a successful narrative
much more then tales of visual and aural accomplishments, which I'm already a fan of.
As far as the lack of women in the film goes...well I never read the book, but if one should use BBC miniseries as an example the author would see that
it features about the same amount of women characters illustrating the fact that Circus was for the most part a boys club...nothing else.
Also, I love Tom Hardy's hair in the film...I think it's spot on.

I would like to hear more stuff about the insights into Tomas Alfredsons techniques as well. I dont think TA likes to give too much away but what little Ive read is fascinating. For instance Ive read that he doesnt look to other films to get inspiration but other forms of art. Before he starts, he picks out a song that he will listen to, to, I guess, keep that vibe. He likes to give his characters an animal totem (my word). He likes to give his characters a musical chord or note to see how they fit with other notes in order to fit together like a song, mining the experiences he gained from trying to make it as a musician. Ive heard these things from interviews and feel that he really wants to capture the core soul of something before he proceeds with the technicalities.