The Pigeon Tunnel is a documentary about the life and career of author John le Carré aka David Cornwell through an interview with the subject, reenactments, and clips from various adaptations of his work.
The film has the same sleekness and edge that director Errol Morris has developed over the years but as far as the content it is solidly in the middle of the pack as far as his work goes. Cornwell is an interesting guy but he was famous and relevant 50 years ago, which is not a dig, but within the film there is an assumption that we the viewer not only know who he is but are aware of specifics about his life. So the result is a lack of context for some of the routes the questioning and the film go down. Cornwell provides some interesting insights but the net effect is relatively thin. Not to put to fine a point on it but there were moments where the viewer is left wondering, unless they are a big Cornwell fan, who cares?
Not as directly unsatisfying or irresponsible as some of Morris's other recent features like American Dharma and The Unknown Known more akin to his more modest work, eccentric examinations of interesting characters, like Tabloid but lacking the punch or interest of his seminal The Fog Of War or the more recent docuseries Wormwood.
Morris is one of our greatest living documentarians and any new work of his is worthy of a watch but hopefully he has at least one more great work in him because this ain't it.
Currently streaming on Apple+.
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