Can you imagine Captain America fending off hired hit men by tripping them up in a mall parking lot? No – an action movie needs action.
But in the new Marvel superhero movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russo Brothers (Arrested Development) have shown that you needn’t make the whole universe explode to impress the audience.
Using as little CGI (computer-generated images) as possible, they have created an action movie that not only lives up to the high expectations we have of Marvel films, but also reassures us that live action ain’t dead.
Though, of course, that’s only a good thing if we’re talking fiction. Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Act of Killing (a Danish co-production) shows the crimes and mass-killings committed by Indonesian death-squad leaders in 1965/66 – enacted by the people who are responsible for them.
A powerful film through and through, and you can catch it Wednesday at 9.45pm at Cinemateket if you haven’t had the chance so far.
Another film to make you appreciate your life and even day-job is Michael Glawogger’s 2005 documentary Workingman’s Death. You get what you pay for – unlike the workers in this film who go to extremes that the pay they get hardly reflects. What better way to spend your Saturday (2.15pm Cinemateket) than watch other people work their asses off.
If, by the time it’s Sunday eve (9.30pm Cinemateket), you start to feel that distinct sense of futility that accompanies many an impending Monday, but you aren’t ready for existential introspection, maybe what you need is a bit of visual confusion. Dog Star Man, Stan Brakhage’s set of short movies from the ‘60s, is a classic in experimental film and should do the trick.
Spy stories, superheroes, critical documentaries and loose images lacking any narrative structure don’t tickle your pickle? Fear cinematic understimulation no more! You don’t have to wait for next week’s column to start putting together your own CPH:PIX film festival schedule!
