Cinema in the morning

This morning we went down to Ocean Terminal to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Sitting in an almost empty cinema, we were totally gripped for two hours, sufficiently so that it helped us to forget Scotland's woes in the rugby over breakfast time. Gary Oldman, with his thin lips and slightly receding chin, has to my mind successfully gripped the character of Smiley away from Alec Guinness, in a way that I have to admit I thought was not possible. A casting triumph. I wasn't so convinced by Colin Firth as Bill Haydon. He was just being Colin Firth it seemed to me. Too used to being the main man?

I felt a black and white blip was appropriate after the dimly lit scenes of 1970s London which dominate the film, where nothing is quite as it seems.

Now we're home again, about to enjoy, somewhat belatedly, the cooked breakfast we couldn't quite face at breakfast time. This afternoon promises another light bout of ancestor worship including the possibility of planning a trip to Belfast later in the autumn.