[Weekly Update] February 6th, 2022

Happy Lunar New Year! Hope you had a good time if you were celebrating. I had a pretty good meal. So good, in fact, I can start to feel my belly. But if you weren't celebrating, I still hope 2022 has been treating you well.

CHANNEL UPDATE

• Hope you enjoyed our latest video on Hi, Mom. This video idea was actually suggested by a couple of viewers, including channel YouTuber Cool History Bros! The film quickly became one of my favourite films from 2021. While it started off pretty slow, it just gets better and better, and ends on a very high note. If you still haven't, I highly suggest giving it a watch.
• Research for our next Malaysia focused video has begun. I'm currently compiling a list of films I'll have to find and watch. If you still have any suggestions comment down below!
• Finally, we are currently looking for a videographer/filmmaker for a currently unannounced project. If you are interested in helping, please contact us!

MEDIA TALK

• Welcome to Uncle Yang's weekly rambling. Since nothing major is going on in film lately, let's talk about old movies. Specifically: Old movies that are more popular outside of their country of origins.
• Hong Kong movies were once king of the world. But the Hong Kong movies most people in North America knew, are not the ones loved or considered classics in the East.
• The biggest example is Rumble in the Bronx. By the time this movie came out, Jackie Chan is already famous in Hong Kong. Police Story and Drunken Master II had already became his seminal work. So, while Rumble in the Bronx marks his rise in Hollywood, it ironically marks end of his golden age in Hong Kong.
• In fact, out of all the English movies he made with a Hong Kong crew, I think Rumble in the Bronx is the one I heard about the last. I remembered advertisements for both Who Am I and Mr. Nice Guy, but never Rumble in the Bronx.
• This delay of fame is a pretty universal phenomenon, too. When you talk about John Woo, most people think of either Hard Boiled, or Face/Off. But to people in Hong Kong or people of my generation, it's always A Better Tomorrow, one of his earliest work.
• Stephen Chow is famous internationally for Kung Fu Hustle. And while a lot of people agree that is his magnum opus, it is also an atypical film for Chow's style. For this reason, a lot of people actually prefer his earlier works like Fight Back to School.
• And to some, his actual magnum opus is King of Comedy.
• The reverse is, of course, also true. But it's usually to a lesser degree, thanks to Hollywood's insane level of publishing power. One of the more interesting and famous example is how the Fast and Furious series is gangbusters in China.
• And, the reason for its success, I think, is because there's just nothing like that, or to that scale, in China. Cinematic large scale action and destruction is a fairly big genre in the US. From things as big as the MCU, to as forgettable as San Andreas, the US audience is sick and tired of these movies. But China has no real history of making disaster films or car races or anything. This offers the market a glimpse to a culture that's entirely foreign to them. F&F wins because there's a demand without much of a competition.
• Although it's such a strange phenomenon to think about. America is making movies primarily for a Chinese audience, because there is a market vacuum there. I kinda wonder how long that vacuum will last.

And that is the update for this week! A bit of a shorter one, but I want to know your side of the story. What's a film that is famous outside of your country, but is less valued within the country of origin?

In any case, I'll see you next week!