Fresh Air Weekend: China’s influence in Hollywood; Living with chronic illness

Audience members sit separately for social distancing at a cinema in China’s eastern Zhejiang province in July 2020.

AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

AFP via Getty Images

Audience members sit separately for social distancing at a cinema in China’s eastern Zhejiang province in July 2020.

AFP via Getty Images

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Hollywood relies on China to stay afloat. What does that mean for movies?: Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel says that film studios increasingly need Chinese audiences to break even — which can result in self-censorship. His new book is Red Carpet.

Nothing feels fresh in this grim retread of ‘The Batman’: Though Robert Pattinson is terrific playing the young Bruce Wayne as the most troubled of souls, The Batman comes across as an overly familiar blockbuster, populated by recycled characters.

How long COVID sheds light on other mysterious (and lonely) chronic illnesses: Writer Meghan O’Rourke says long COVID-19 and other chronic illnesses put a heavy burden on patients, who have to “testify to the reality of their own illness.” Her new book is The Invisible Kingdom.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

Hollywood relies on China to stay afloat. What does that mean for movies?

Nothing feels fresh in this grim retread of ‘The Batman’

How long COVID sheds light on other mysterious (and lonely) chronic illnesses