170 - Ne Zha

Ne Zha, a Chinese animated film, holds the record for the biggest box office in a single market (having made over $700m in China), but Mike isn't that impressed with it, comparing it to the likes of Ice Age. José had a better time, though asks himself why he overlooks some of its more questionable elements, including a rather homophobic running joke that just doesn't go away. But there's a certain flair and thoughtfulness to some of its visual design and characterisation that we appreciate, and it gives us food for thought. Discussing Ne Zha leads us into a conversation about British film culture as it relates to foreign language cinema. It's not impossible to see foreign language films in Birmingham - though Ne Zha making it to Cineworld, as opposed to the Electric or mac, is notable - but outside London, the kind of culture that European and South American countries have of showing films from other countries as a matter of course in the main cinemas just doesn't exist here. In going through our list of podcasts so far we see this reflected, a little over one eighth of our podcasts to date being about non-UK/US films, and a number of those thanks to MUBI, the streaming service, rather than cinema screenings. We can definitely do better, and intend to, but it is the case that foreign cinema culture in the UK barely exists. Recorded on 16th September 2019.