Though screened at the 2010 Cannes film festival in its bum-numbing 5 1/2 hour entirety, Olivier Assayas' Carlos was originally made for French pay TV channel Canal+ (it also got a limited theatrical release in the US and UK, albeit in a truncated form). Although made with a controlled, fastidious gaze, Carlos somehow works as a biopic of unscrupulous assassin Carlos 'The Jackal', without ever revealing much about the man, and is an even better depiction of the revolutionary 70s, as well as the less politically turbulent 80s and 90s, when only the dying embers of world revolution remained. Carlos is a fascinating portrait of a man, one who's vain, egotistical and opportunistic but also strangely compelling, and Edgar Ramirez is outstanding in the title role. Seducing women that naively believe in his legend and making deals with whatever revolutionary cause can make him an offer, Ramirez' Carlos fights for no one but himself, increasing his celebrity as his comrades run in chaos around him. Assayas' film is a jetsetting thriller, a tense action spectacular (particularly in its recreation of the 1975 militant raid on Germany's OPEC headquarters, a highlight), a historical epic and a showcase for one of the world cinema's most promising new actors.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
