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And the three and a quarter hours and 21 speaking parts required to tell its story — which is at once a shivery suspenser, a hearthside family portrait, a political tragedy and a journey across mythic seas — barely seem long enough to contain all it has to give us.

Variety called it a “satisfying suspenser.”

In Richard Condon’s satirical suspenser “The Manchurian Candidate,” the scion of a prominent political family is brainwashed into becoming a communist assassin.

Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman offer sterling performances in this lean, mean suspenser, vivid evidence of Lumet’s undiminished skills at the twilight of his career.

The atmospheric suspenser is among a handful of prestige pictures seeking to use awards-season promos to fuel their initial runs.