Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest
Mads Hedegaard’s Danish documentary is an affectionate view of men for whom video games play a crucial role in their lives.
The great pleasure to be found in this first feature by the Danish director Mads Hedegaard stems from his skill in finding exactly the right tone for it. Set in Copenhagen, the film is about an attempt by a devotee of video games to achieve a record. He is Kim Cannon Arm now aged fifty-five and with fond memories of the days when arcades were full of such players. To this end he has established his own set-up in a bar where, aided by friends, he can devote himself to the game of Gyruss established in 1983. Having already made a single run through that lasted all of forty-nine hours, he is now hoping to establish a world record by playing for one hundred hours straight and he is doing this in memory of a friend, Thomas, who had committed suicide but who had been an inspiration to him.
Cannon Arm may be the central figure here but Hedegaard, who also acts as narrator, pays full attention to the friends who, as devotees of video games, are helping him. Their intense devotion to video games marks them out as individuals who could be considered oddballs, but as we get to know them it becomes apparent that they have genuinely inquisitive minds. Cannon Arm himself is a chemical engineer, his best friend, Carsten, studies Bach and the patterns in his music, Svarar is a data analyst and Michael Dyst is a poet coping with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Hedegaard’s film is as much a portrait of this group as it is a study of the endeavour by Cannon Arm to achieve his quest.
The film recognises that, while many individuals would like in some way to leave their mark on the world, to hope to do so through putting video games at the centre of your life could be seen as eccentric. But Hedegaard presents the material in such a way as to bring out the precision and strategy involved when taking it this far and he captures the energy and liveliness of the gamers. Contributing to this is the notably colourful imagery and the use of music ranging from pieces by Bach to pop tunes. There is too a willingness to see the comic aspects of what is going on despite also giving due recognition to the health hazard involved in playing continuously for so long. It is crucial too that never once does the film become condescending in its view of these people or of their obsessions. Above all, Hedegaard brings out the camaraderie in what seems a very male world and he does this so effectively that for me this film trumps the comparable portrayal found in that much acclaimed Danish movie Another Round.
Pleasing as much of this documentary is, the eventual emphasis on the time spent in the actual attempt to play for one hundred hours does result in Hedegaard struggling to find vivid ways of sustaining tension as Cannon Arm sits there and keeps going on and on. There is, perhaps, a touch of desperation in ultimately resorting to the occasional use of split screen images and speeded-up footage. But I say that as someone who enjoyed the film despite having never wanted to participate in a video game. Those potential viewers who themselves enjoy playing will almost certainly find this a film to cherish.
Original title: Kim Kanonen og rejsen mod verdensrekorden.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Kim Cannon Arm, Carsten Tommy Lauridsen, Michael Dyst, Svavar Gunnar Gunnarson, Michael Trier, Emil Gotfredsen, Jesper Øland, Morten Riis Svendsen, Mads Hedegaard.
Dir Mads Hedegaard, Pro Katrine A. Sahlstrøm, Screenplay Mads Hedegaard, Ph Mads Hedegaard and David Bauer, Ed Mark Bukdahl.
Good Company Pictures-Wildcard Distribution.
97 mins. Denmark. 2021. UK Rel: 24 June 2022. Cert. 15.
