Carlos

Assayas set out to make a thriller, and he succeeds so brilliantly that you can watch all five and a half hours in a sitting, constantly gripped by the twists and turns of a plot that is faithful to history but just as faithful to suspense. It is this that allows Assayas and Ramírez to keep us with the film. We register both the general history and the individual portrait, but we are constantly waiting for the next shot, for the angle and perspective from which the next bullet will come.

Assayas maintains a near-constant sense of movement (in terms of both the camera and the storytelling overall), an ability to convey entire milieus through seemingly casual detail, an invigorating use of music (particularly early post-punk), and a confidence with actors that yields uniformly charismatic performances. And yet these qualities have been streamlined in such a way that CARLOS works as an exemplary suspense movie or a docudrama.

A dazzling exfoliation of the roots of modern discontent, Carlos is staggering; no more important movie will be released this year.