As a Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper movie completist, I checked out Detective Chinatown 1900 in a London cinema yesterday. I think I was the only non-Asian in a full house (several other screenings I looked up were sold out) which was also overwhelmingly young and female. - ThreadSky

annodracula.bsky.social • 27 days ago

As a Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper movie completist, I checked out Detective Chinatown 1900 in a London cinema yesterday. I think I was the only non-Asian in a full house (several other screenings I looked up were sold out) which was also overwhelmingly young and female.

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annodracula.bsky.social•27 days ago

It's mostly a knockabout comedy - with a gruesome serial killer/forensic detection strand - but there are several rousing MACA speeches, and one moving/scary moment as a dying servant of the dowager empress tells a rifle-importing rebel 'save China'.

annodracula.bsky.social•27 days ago

If there's going to be a film war between China and the new country which just replaced the US, it starts here ... I suspect we're due a lot of films, including some from the US, which present All Americans As Baddies ...

annodracula.bsky.social•27 days ago

... and don't expect South Africans, Brits or - especially in this case - the Irish to get off easily either.

drgs100.bsky.social•27 days ago

Bit harsh on the Irish. Anglos fair enough.

swp1978.bsky.social•27 days ago

As long as they don't whitewash the Scottish, I'm fine for the Irish and English representation! 😂

thehoundoftindalos.bsky.social•27 days ago

Its the Confederacy

rmwhittaker.bsky.social•27 days ago

No, because the Chinese film industry is far too busy with incredibly racist depictions of Japanese people.

maiyu84.bsky.social•27 days ago

Have you watched Case File N221 Kabukicho? The Sherlock is based off of Yokomizo-San's Kindaichi.

eschneider.bsky.social•27 days ago

Looks interesting! And...it's in theaters here, too! (Boston, MA, USA)

drfionamoore.bsky.social•27 days ago

Thanks for this. I tried to get tickets to the BFI IMAX screening but they sold out incredibly fast.

raijimmaru.bsky.social•27 days ago

presumably given the boffo B.O. the film will expand to other screens/cinemas. Or is that (for mysterious reasons) just Not How These Things Work These Days?

drfionamoore.bsky.social•27 days ago

There may be international licensing issues involved. I am not a film industry expert!

raijimmaru.bsky.social•27 days ago

just wondered. If there's such a big audience for it in London, presumably the same is the case in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, etc etc.

facesofjeff.bsky.social•27 days ago

It appears to be on fairly wide release. Odeon website shows it is on in most major cities.

raijimmaru.bsky.social•27 days ago

good to know.

facesofjeff.bsky.social•27 days ago

Though the release is tied to Lunar New Year, so might not be around for long.

lawagainsthenry.bsky.social•27 days ago

How was it? Worth a trip to the flicks?

woth08.bsky.social•21 days ago

Not bad. I wonder if there are any native Americans watch this and what they will think.

robertkosparis.bsky.social•27 days ago

It’s a shame it’s not attracting a more general audience. Cinema has always been my ticket to exploring new worlds … I love how diverse the programmation of Parisian cinemas is, but wish they had more appreciation of foreign commercial films. Wish I could see Bollywood here.

alasdairswanson.bsky.social•27 days ago

Just looked this up and I really want a dvd now

ephemerawoman.bsky.social•27 days ago

Oooh yeah I need to see that

jaspersharp.bsky.social•27 days ago

Interesting that Chinese audience in the UK has grown to the point of dedicated releases and specialist venues/screens. Was this the Odeon Panton Street? I did note there were Mainland Chinese films there obviously playing for diaporic and tourist audiences (rather than general ones) a while back.

joshastevens.com•27 days ago

The distributors do an incredible job networking with the diaspora. When I worked with Trinity CineAsia on Detective Conan last year, I was pleasantly surprised to see them not only run a raffle event in Chinatown, and even giveaway discount coupons for businesses there at the premiere.

marbleicehook.bsky.social•27 days ago

Hong Kong, Indian and more recently Polish films have long had their own parallel UK circuits, which usually operate almost entirely under the radar of English-language media, so I'm not surprised that the same thing seems to be happening with Chinese films.

marbleicehook.bsky.social•27 days ago

And they clearly know where their audiences are - Wojciech Smarzowski's 'Clergy' grossed over a million quid in its opening weekend in the UK and Ireland, which is normally mega-blockbuster level for a foreign-language film, but I suspect it wasn't in a foreign language to much of its UK audience!

jslaterwilliams.bsky.social•27 days ago

Basically the main reason I upgraded my Odeon Limitless card to include West End venues is to see the China, Hong Kong and South Korea films that show up at the Panton Street site every month.

jaspersharp.bsky.social•27 days ago

I've not even walked by Panton Street in years. I do recall last time though noting a commercial Chinese blockbuster - can't quite remember what it was. I should check out their listings more often.

jslaterwilliams.bsky.social•27 days ago

Not a Chinese film but I saw the Korean blockbuster EXHUMA there last March and it stuck around at the venue for nearly two months!

The VUE at Leicester Square also tends to get many of the Chinese releases for at least one week.

jaspersharp.bsky.social•27 days ago

I know, and seemingly Turkish too. But I recall regularly going to the Bollywood Sunday matinees years ago that filled an entire auditorium in the provincial Cineworld in Swindon.

annodracula.bsky.social•27 days ago

It was sold out at Panton Street but I snagged one of the few available seats (front row centre) at the Odeon Tottenham Court Road (round the corner from the BFI). Of course, it's a holiday release if you celebrate Chinese New Year.

annebillson.bsky.social•27 days ago

As far back as the 1980s, at least, IIRC. I vaguely remember @annodracula.bsky.social talking to me about it back then.

orlovsky.bsky.social•27 days ago

Not quite as far back as the 80s, but I remember the cinema (which might have been an Odeon?) in the old Swiss Center leaning heavily towards features for the Chinatown crowd as well.

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