The night of the jackal

Carlos

(2010)

I've spent far too many hours watching this tonight to devote more than a few minutes writing about it, but I have to say that while I enjoyed it, while I found it a very good film (or series of films), I'm not really clear how it made best-of-the-year lists.

In the narrative arc--a man who lives by violence drifts increasingly from his early oddly idealistic value system--Carlos is clearly meant to put us in mind of Michael Corleone, but if Michael's enterprises had gone as consistently awry as these, he'd have come home from that dinner at the Italian restaurant in a doggie bag.

A better iconic analogue might be Elvis Presley--addicted to notoriety, loose in his judgment of the best uses of his talent, and forever fighting the battle of the bulge. At his puffiest, Édgar Ramírez even resembles the King a bit. I guess the sequel should be a remake of Jailhouse Rock.