Tinker Tailor’s Subtle VFX

“”An eerie trumpet call over a lost battlefield.” – Hunter S. Thompson

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was my favorite film of 2011. I was prepared for the byzantine plot but surprised by its emotional heft. The narrative’s pervasive sense of anguish, wrought by personal and professional compromise, was carefully anchored by Gary Oldman’s nuanced portrait of George Smiley. And the visual atmosphere, opulent yet decaying, reminded me of another portrait of societal decline, The Conformist.

The film easily affirmed Tomas Alfredson as one of the most assured stylists in cinema.  And like neo-noir peers David Fincher and Park Chan-Wook, Alfredson uses VFX as an expressive yet often imperceptible tool.

This video reveals how he and the VFX team at The Chimney Pot utilized animation to subtly enhance the film’s visual scope.