Jan
31
In which the scene where George Smiley tells the story of his only meeting with Karla is explicated.
A couple of things strike me here. One is the actors’ voices; obviously what one does with one’s voice is a big part of the performance craft, but it’s really worth noting what Gary Oldman did with his voice for Smiley—it’s lower, rougher, with a slower pace than his out-of-character manner. The other is the shots that show just how much light there actually was on the actors in that scene—a scene which comes across as dark and barely lit in the film. Ah, movie magic. I really do love it.
