Janus Metz
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Filmography
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
influenced All the Old Knives (2022)
Plot Themes Visuals
As directed by Janus Metz (“Borg vs. McEnroe”) from a script by Olen Steinhauer adapting his novel, in concept “Knives” is an espionage chess game in the vein of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (2011).
When Tomas Alfredson adapted le Carré’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” for instance, he took care to pull out themes of misinformation and the futility of engaging in spycraft.
It’s an intricate piece, in terms of the clues, misdirection and red herrings that Steinhauer doles out in the flashbacks and the undercurrents he suggests in the present-day conversations; but when the puzzle pieces come together, the picture that emerges isn’t terribly surprising, certainly not by comparison to what John le Carré accomplished in his famous mole-hunting tale, ”Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
I love a good espionage thriller- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes to mind- where spies gather in rooms to talk, and the details can ramp up the tension.
Though there’s a lack of the arresting, cold, post-war tableaus seen in something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , there’s an intense intimacy in its place.
Metz aims for the ethical complexity of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but at best this is Le Carré Lite.
DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen, who’s lensed Vinterberg’s The Hunt (2012), not to mention Fences (2016) and the first A Quiet Place (2018), combines her skill sets and palettes intriguingly, and solidifies two distinct vibes across the film’s timelines.
Danish director Janus Metz (see “Borg vs. McEnroe” and the series “ZeroZeroZero”) works with fellow countryman and talented cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christiansen (see “The Hunt,” “A Quiet Place” and “Fences”) to imbue an air of mystery to the look of this mostly two-hander narrative.
As in her work for “The Girl on the Train,” “Fences,” “The Hunt,” and “A Quiet Place,” director of photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen creates revealing compositions.
The film also has Charlotte Bruus Christensen (who has worked on projects like the 2012 film- The Hunt and the 2018 film- A Quiet Place ) serving as its cinematographer and, it shows in every shot starting from the long shots to the duo bathed playfully in the fading sunlight at dinner.
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Directed by John McTiernan
influenced All the Old Knives (2022)
Themes
The way that The Hunt For Red October kicked off a series of Cold War thrillers, in the 1990s, that came out when the Cold War was already over, the new Amazon film All the Old Knives serves as a belated War on Terror thriller.