I saw this film, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and read the review in The New Yorker. The story is about a recall of a veteran spy to sort out the present situation. Anothe film, "The Double" starring Richard Gere, likewise does something similar, but with different intentions and results.
I was surprised to learn that John Le Carre is still living and in fact, has a new novel. He actually worked for intelligence, and his stories are gleaned from the foundation of that experience. The narrative focusses on George Smiley who we remember from "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965) read, when I graduated high School. I have not read any of his other books, as I am not, as many of my friends, are, "readers of mystery novels or spy thrillers." Le Carre is one of the few mystery writers who is taught in courses of literature, for instance at the University of Pennsylvania, where a course once looked at mysteries as genre. After all, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes are enjoying a revival of sorts,the latter with a post modern spin in film.
Anthony Lane, the reviewer, quotes Coleridge, 'The frost performs its secret ministry". . I am not sure how he relates that quote to his task...as Coleridge's mystery is abit different! Lane proscribes Le Carre, as the "supreme ironist" when the first three words in his story are: "The truth is"..Le Carre has the privilege, as author, to advance that "Hearts and minds are not to be won; they are, in this world, for sale", is Lane's estimation. I agree with the reviewer who ends his criticism by recommending that we should all return to the original book (1974)..for more than the film delivers.
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As for the most recent "Sherlock Holmes and Shadows", I like it more than the first, which perhaps was too much of a stretch from how one imagines Holmes...more significantly it has sent viewers of the film back to the Conan Doyle books. They are becoming readers! Amy Sommers, a friend from Portland Maine, who is a an attorney in a law firm in Shanghai, brought her son to a recent art opening at OV Galleries in Shanghai. Ten year old RYan was sitting in a corner reading his kindle; Amy revealed that he had downloaded Sherlock Holmes after watching the film which we both liked. So what does it matter if I liked it.
I have a book, Midnight in Peking, by Paul French, one of Shanghai's expat authors, now published by Penguin in China and so far I cannot read it, excepting the first page which describes the fox tower in Beijing and how that is relevant to the murder of Pamela Werner, the beautiful young daughter, of the British consul in Beijing, a murder which has never been resolved, due to the outbreak of the war, at that very moment, the closure of the embassy, the ousting of the British diplomat. The author actually found the buried archives of that year's records in storage by chance and met the police inspector, now retired, running a pub in England, as he researched this story. What is noble in Paul's effort is the restoration of her memory, though this tale. (more on this later, when I update this post and read the book)
I was surprised to learn that John Le Carre is still living and in fact, has a new novel. He actually worked for intelligence, and his stories are gleaned from the foundation of that experience. The narrative focusses on George Smiley who we remember from "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965) read, when I graduated high School. I have not read any of his other books, as I am not, as many of my friends, are, "readers of mystery novels or spy thrillers." Le Carre is one of the few mystery writers who is taught in courses of literature, for instance at the University of Pennsylvania, where a course once looked at mysteries as genre. After all, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes are enjoying a revival of sorts,the latter with a post modern spin in film.
Anthony Lane, the reviewer, quotes Coleridge, 'The frost performs its secret ministry". . I am not sure how he relates that quote to his task...as Coleridge's mystery is abit different! Lane proscribes Le Carre, as the "supreme ironist" when the first three words in his story are: "The truth is"..Le Carre has the privilege, as author, to advance that "Hearts and minds are not to be won; they are, in this world, for sale", is Lane's estimation. I agree with the reviewer who ends his criticism by recommending that we should all return to the original book (1974)..for more than the film delivers.
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As for the most recent "Sherlock Holmes and Shadows", I like it more than the first, which perhaps was too much of a stretch from how one imagines Holmes...more significantly it has sent viewers of the film back to the Conan Doyle books. They are becoming readers! Amy Sommers, a friend from Portland Maine, who is a an attorney in a law firm in Shanghai, brought her son to a recent art opening at OV Galleries in Shanghai. Ten year old RYan was sitting in a corner reading his kindle; Amy revealed that he had downloaded Sherlock Holmes after watching the film which we both liked. So what does it matter if I liked it.
I have a book, Midnight in Peking, by Paul French, one of Shanghai's expat authors, now published by Penguin in China and so far I cannot read it, excepting the first page which describes the fox tower in Beijing and how that is relevant to the murder of Pamela Werner, the beautiful young daughter, of the British consul in Beijing, a murder which has never been resolved, due to the outbreak of the war, at that very moment, the closure of the embassy, the ousting of the British diplomat. The author actually found the buried archives of that year's records in storage by chance and met the police inspector, now retired, running a pub in England, as he researched this story. What is noble in Paul's effort is the restoration of her memory, though this tale. (more on this later, when I update this post and read the book)
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