When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right” – Clearly, Michael Bay has decided that if Clint Eastwood can have a historical January opening with shamelessly jingoistic propaganda (American Sniper), then he can too.
And so it is that the man behind the historically inaccurate depiction of Pearl Harbour now brings you 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. You can well imagine the nuanced, respectful approach Bay brings to his treatment of the 2012 attack on a US compound in Libya that resulted in the death of an American ambassador.
Also out this week is the latest film from American auteurs the Coen Brothers (in fairness, Bay is inarguably an auteur of sorts), who have followed their brilliantly whimsical drama Inside Llewellyn Jones, with Hail, Caesar!, a return to their decidedly more slapstick tone. See if the slap stuck in this week’s review.
Over at Cinemateket, there’s a celebration of the awards season with a series of big Oscar winners starting with James Cameron’s record-busting Titanic on Thursday (18th) at 20:15, followed on Wednesday by William Wyler’s epic Ben Hur at 19:00 and Bette Davis and a young Marilyn Monroe in All About Eve at 20:00.
The Kurdish Film Days festival, meanwhile, has changed its name to the Copenhagen Kurdish Film Festival but continues to showcase Kurdish culture through a program of arts, fiction and documentary film including introductions and Q&As with the artists and filmmakers. The festival runs from the 17th until the 21st with tickets costing 70kr (55kr discounted) – all films screen with English subs.
‘Danish on a Sunday’ (Danish films with English subs) is showing Susanne Bier’s 2010 Oscar-winning In a Better World (Hævnen). It starts at 14:15 and an extra 40kr will get you coffee and a pastry. For a full Cinematek program, visit dfi.dk/Filmhuset.
Finally, if you fancy something a little out of the ordinary, try Huset’s presentation of Todd Browning’s (Freaks, Dracula) silent horror The Unknown (1927), which is screening from a 16mm print with live piano accompaniment (huset-kbh.dk).
