Lumiere-5

SO I just watched the film version of Jean LaCarre's *A Murder of Quality*. I liked the way the book ended better. However, it did prove something I had been saying for a long time: that Gary Oldman made a TERRIBLE George Smiley. He does not look right and he does not act right. You see, I'm a HUGE Smioley fan and, like most, I'm a fan from the books. Smiley is described as a funny little man and a disheveled Oxford Don. He has great humor about him that masks a great rage, and his rage is righteous, almost zealous. He is a champion in a battle between good and evil, and he hates the fact that he is constantly doing evil in the name of good. Oldman was wrong physically and was wrong in temperament. Eliot, a great if often overlooked British Actor, plays that switch between humor and rage perfectly, and he looks like a funny little Oxford Don. When I read that Elliot played smiley in this version I knew it would be great, because his turn as Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones movies had all of Smiley's humor and the Oxford don clichés without his cunning or his rage.

In addition to Elliot, the movie has a terrific cast, including Joss Ackland at his sonorous best, Glenda Jackson, and a very young Christian Bale in a pivotal role (this was right before Newsies and a couple years after Henry V). It has that typical made for TV British mystery plodding, and one or two incredibly poor digital mats, but I really liked it.

What a great film. Both gritty and beautiful, superbly acted, with a taught script. There are predictable parts, but they are often only foreshadowed by a few minutes. It is one of those great dark crime comedies that the Brits are so good at--a little lighter than Sexy Beast, a little darker than Snatch, but with a dream-like quality that shows just a touch of influence from Felini. Really fun flick. In a way the characters are a bit clichéd--especially Ralph Fienes' gangster, but that's no big deal. I thought the inclusion of Jimmy the racist dwarf was a stroke of brilliance, and the tight way he is woven into the script shows some real skill. Go see this film.

Yet another Seven Samurai ripoff--did you notice the picture of Steve MacQueen in Michael Pare's hovel, just in case we didn't get it? This thing has two things to reccomend it--Bruce Dern being more or less as crazy as always, which has been a great thing to watch since The Cowboys at the very least, and Adam Ant proving that he should have done more movies because he is really entertaining. I wonder if they've done it on MST3K.