Olivier Assayas's CARLOS (2010)

[W. Minge]

Hey guys,

Studio Canal are due to release Olivier Assayas's CARLOS on DVD in France next week. The chances of this release coming with English subtitles are presumably very low, if nil, but can anyone confirm this? I can't seem to find a French DVD website with rock-solid information about this, which isn't surprising in the least--they all seem to have an aversion to stating whether French DVDs come with English subs or not (the recent release of Tsai Ming-liang's VISAGE being a good example). Any help here will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

W. Minge

[Tutut]

The first part was broadcasted on Canal+ channel on May 19 and it seems usual french sites about films and videos have no infos about this release.



Carlos, who's in jail in France wrote a letter to the actor who played his role.

http://translate.google.fr/translate...n&hl=&ie=UTF-8
(translated with google)

[skacore]

I finished part 1 and I am half way through part 2. It moves at an incredible pace. In the first 12 minutes he has gone to at least 4 countries, and shot someone in the face. I can't speak to the historical accuracy but it's a well directed mini series.

I have been watching it with subtitles (no, not on dvd) and I would say that about 40% of it is in english. They bounce in and out of many languages, sometimes within the same conversation.

[eXcentris]

I doubt that the Studio Canal release will have english subs, but considering the involvment of Sundance and IFC films, you will get one at some point:

IFC and Sundance Channel Team Up For Assayas’s “Carlos”
by Peter Knegt (May 14, 2010)

Ahead of its debut next week at the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Channel and IFC Films have announced plans for a multi-platform release of Olivier Assayas’s “Carlos.” The five-and-a-half-hour epic - a portrait of the renowned international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal - will debut first on the Sundance Channel as a three-part mini-series in October (the network’s first original scripted project). Following the Sundance Channel premiere, IFC Films will distribute both the extended, three-part version of the film as well as a theatrical version nationally in theaters, with the theatrical version available nationally on video-on-demand. Sundance Channel and IFC Films are both owned and operated by Rainbow Media.

Directed by French filmmaker Assayas (“Summer Hours”), the film stars Edgar Ramirez in the title role. The film is screening out of competition in the Official Selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and will screen Wednesday, May 19 at 12pm at the Grand Theatre Lumiere.

“Every so often a project like ‘Carlos’ comes along that presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to do something different that will maximize its potential and its exposure,” said Sarah Barnett, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Sundance Channel, in a statement. “‘Carlos’ is a hugely ambitious and beautifully executed work of drama; we are excited to move into the scripted arena with a project of this caliber.”

“We’re looking forward to working with our sister company Sundance Channel on the multi-platform release of ‘Carlos’. IFC Films pioneered the day and date VOD model, and we pride ourselves on releasing films in unique ways which will expand the audience for each project,” said Jonathan Sehring, President, IFC Entertainment, in a statement. “We’re excited to continue our ongoing relationship with Studio Canal and are happy to be working with Olivier once again. His last film, Summer Hours, was such a success for us and we’re excited to bring his newest work to audiences on multiple platforms.”

[Dane]

I assume the US theatres will be getting the proposed 3-hour cut.

[Cardiac161]

Just finished watching the whole 330 min film (in three sittings). Though long and very detailed, I found "Carlos" an exhilarating film that reminds me so much of Spielberg's Munich and geo-political films of the 70s. Though fictionalized in some detail due to lack of evidence, it's a fascinating study of the political and idealogical atmosphere 3 decades ago. It's also interesting to see the constant international struggles/alliances in the eyes of a revolutionary whose life is pretty much based executing terrorism and the people around him.

Not really sure how the theatrical cut (140 mins) would be received as the full version just had too much information to be disregarded.

Really hope the 330 min version is released in Blu ray soon.

[sleepyhead55]

Interesting that you mention Munich as I enjoyed that film a lot more on a second viewing. I'm hoping for an eventual Criterion release of this.

[Giles]

Originally Posted by sleepyhead55

Interesting that you mention Munich as I enjoyed that film a lot more on a second viewing. I'm hoping for an eventual Criterion release of this.

who want's to make a bet that it will??

[Tarantino]

Looks like it's coming out in R2 on November 1st and the Amazon UK listing shows English subs. It doesn't talk about the run-time, but does have it listed at 3 discs, so it may be the full cut.

[sleepyhead55]

Run time is close to six hours. Still haven't watched the last part yet.

[Rypro 525]

Looks like the 3 part miniseries debuts on Sundance channel on Oct 11 at 9 with each part airing the next night

[flixtime]

I watched the three-part CARLOS screening aired on Sundance Channel earlier this week...the English subtitles were a bit of a challenge to read as they would become too difficult to decipher against light backgrounds (I recall having the same issue with the Sundance airing of CHE)...thankfully a lot of the film was in English (lots of other languages too...French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Arabic, Hungarian).

The Sundance airing was the full extended cut of the film (roughly 330 minutes). It aired as a 104-minute Part 1, a 107-minute Part 2, and a 118-minute Part 3 (each part was followed by end credits).

As to the movie - and following on viewings of CHE, MESRINE, THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX and such (no doubt I'm a little burned out on these types of films) - the first 80 minutes of Part 1 didn't really do much for me at all, but then the last 20 minutes of Part 1 is where CARLOS started to show strong signs of life. This continued through the first half (about 53 minutes) of Part 2. Looking back, I would consider this stretch (last 20 minutes of Part 1 and the first 53 minutes of Part 2) to be the best segment of the movie. The last half of Part 2 was rather engrossing too but not to the level of the first half. I was quite enthusiastic heading in to Part 3. Part 3 though fell shy of Part 2, and after a while I grew impatient with the repetitive nature of the story...I got the point of everything and I wasn't too keen on spending more time on the matter. Part 3 was interesting enough, but I was hoping for something that would match the high found early on in Part 2.

I can see where a cutdown theatrical version would be a more satisfying experience...especially by cutting down the vast majority of the first 80 minutes. In comparison to CHE and MESRINE, I'd say that CARLOS is the most interesting of the three...the global politics and such was quite interesting. In terms of "entertaining", I would go with MESRINE because the main character in MESRINE had a more charismatic presence. In that sense, I didn't find Carlos to be all that interesting from a character viewpoint. There is talk about Carlos and his desire for "celebrity"...but I don't think that aspect of the film ever really came to life for me. So as I found with CHE, the character...well, I never really felt I got a thorough enough portrayal of what made him tick...as such, while CARLOS was interesting for its insight into global politics, as a character study it didn't succeed for me (perhaps it was a conscious decision by the filmmakers to underplay the character so as not to glamorize or celebrate what he was (a justifiable approach to take as I see it)).

If I were to score CARLOS versus the other recent three-part, TV-movie RED RIDING...I'd pick RED RIDING as the easy winner.

[eXcentris]

Originally Posted by Tarantino

Looks like it's coming out in R2 on November 1st and the Amazon UK listing shows English subs. It doesn't talk about the run-time, but does have it listed at 3 discs, so it may be the full cut.

DVD: Theatrical cut only

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carlos-The-J...8291882&sr=1-3

DVD: Both theatrical cut and complete trilogy (full cut)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carlos-The-J...8291882&sr=1-1

Blu-ray: Both theatrical cut and complete trilogy (full cut)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carlos-The-J...8291882&sr=1-2

Here's a review of the Blu-ray:

http://www.avforums.com/movies/Carlo...-Oct-2010.html

[Rypro 525]

For anyone living in the DC area that wants to see the full cut in theaters, the AFI silver is showing it nov. 24-27th. With 1 15 minute intermission. thats gonna be an ass sore lol