Veteran British director Ken Loach and acclaimed Brazilian helmer Fernando Meirelles (“City of God”) have piled on the criticism of Marvel films. Two-time Palme d’Or winner Loach described comic-book movies as “commodities…like hamburgers,” while Meirelles said he was “not interested” in the genre.
The pair are the latest directors to echo Martin Scorsese’s disdain for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the weekend, “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola also jumped into the fray, calling comic-book films “despicable.”
Loach derided Marvel movies in a TV interview. “They’re made as commodities…like hamburgers,” he told Sky News. “It’s about making a commodity which will make profit for a big corporation. They’re a cynical exercise. They’re a market exercise, and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema.”
Loach’s most recent film, “Sorry We Missed You,” a drama about the precarious lives of workers in the gig economy, played in Cannes, where it earned strong reviews.
After giving a masterclass at the Mumbai Film Festival, Meirelles said: “I can’t disagree with Scorsese because I don’t watch [Marvel movies]….I watched a ‘Spider-Man’ eight years ago, and that was it. I’m not interested.
“It doesn’t mean it is bad,” Meirelles added. “I don’t know if it’s Marvel, but I watched ‘Deadpool,’ the first one, and it was very good. Amazing action sequences. Then I tried to watch ‘Deadpool 2’ on a plane. I watched, like, half an hour and gave up.”
Meirelles’ masterclass was preceded by the India premiere of his Netflix film “The Two Popes,” featuring Oscar-buzz performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. The sold-out Mumbai audience responded to the film with a sustained standing ovation. Mumbai festival director Anupama Chopra then presented Meirelles with the festival’s award for international excellence in cinema.