‘Carlos’: A Monumental Film, an Awards-Season Puzzle

Three-part film is “an epic piece of cinema” — and a pain to market and position in awards season

It’s one of the year’s major works of filmmaking, it features a monumental lead performance, and it’s being released in the thick of awards season.

But when it comes to campaigning for awards, “Carlos” might be the trickiest movie of the year.Edgar Ramirez

Certainly, the film, French director Olivier Assayas’ three-part, five-and-a-half-hour examination of the life of the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, is worthy of honors. Epic in its scope, dense and rich and multifaceted in its execution, it is an immersive and rewarding experience, with Edgar Ramirez delivering a riveting performance as Carlos.

The problem: The film was initially made for French television, and broadcast in the United States on the Sundance Channel.

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