Film
My Life as McDull
A Hong Kong animated film about McDull, an earnest but dim-witted pig boy who can't quite meet his mother's expectations. It's gentle, melancholic, and deeply human despite its cartoon form—less interested in laughs than in the quiet ache of not being special. For anyone who's ever felt like they weren't enough.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy gentle, wry animation where a small, ordinary kid's daily worries carry real tenderness, and you don't mind a story that wanders through his life rather than driving toward a big plot.
Skip it if you want brisk, escalating storytelling or sharp jokes every minute, since this one is mostly quiet, rambling observation with humor that stays low-key and rarely lands as big laughs.
What it asks of you: Roughly seventy-five minutes of patient, unhurried episodes that settle into a mood, so give it your attention and a willingness to sit with small domestic moments.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Craig of the Creek2018
A series about childhood's small adventures and self-discovery that finds poetry in ordinary moments. It captures the same tender, unglamorous view of growing up that McDull does, with real warmth and no condescension.
But Very much a children's show in its pacing and some of its plotting. If you need constant plot momentum, it can feel slight.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004
A film about feeling inadequate and unloved that finds beauty in failure and incompleteness. Like McDull, it refuses easy comfort and sits with the melancholy of not being what someone wanted.
But Deliberately downbeat and abstract. It demands patience and doesn't offer narrative satisfaction in the traditional sense.
Boyhood2014
Richard Linklater's three-hour meditation on the ordinariness of growing up—no dramatic arc, just the accumulation of small disappointments and moments. It shares McDull's refusal to pretend childhood is enchanted.
But Famously plotless. Some find it achingly slow; others find that slowness the whole point. You have to be in the mood for watching time pass.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from My Life as McDull
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Chungking Express1994
Both are Hong Kong films about people who feel invisible, and both find something almost transcendent in that invisibility. The register is entirely different, but the emotional core is the same.
Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece about loneliness in Hong Kong, from the same creative world as McDull. It's lush where McDull is plain, but both capture that specifically Hong Kong sadness—the way ordinary lives feel unremarkable and precious at once.
But Visually dense and narratively fragmented. If you need plot clarity, this will frustrate you.
More like this (8)
Sora yori mo Tooi Basho A Story that leads to the Antarctica2018
An anime about four unremarkable girls who dream bigger than their circumstances suggest they should. It's tender about failure and sincere about ambition without being saccharine.
But The first few episodes are very high-energy school comedy. It takes time to find its deeper register.
Spirited Away2001
Released the same year as McDull, it's another Asian animated film about a child trying to navigate a world indifferent to their worth. Miyazaki's visual poetry lifts similar themes to something transcendent.
But Tonally very different—Spirited Away is magical and surreal where McDull is grounded. Some find Miyazaki's sentimentality heavy-handed.
About a Boy2002
A film about a man who has to grow up and a boy who needs to feel valued. Warm without being sappy, it understands that love is sometimes just showing up and trying.
But The romantic subplot is conventional rom-com stuff. The tonal mix doesn't always land perfectly.
Carole & Tuesday2019
An anime about two unremarkable girls chasing a dream on Mars. It has McDull's gentle fatalism paired with stubborn hope—beauty emerging from ordinary people trying hard.
But Netflix cancelled it on a cliffhanger. The ending is incomplete and unsatisfying.
The Farewell2019
Lulu Wang's film about family obligation and the gap between what we are and what's expected of us. Deeply rooted in Asian family dynamics, it shares McDull's quiet understanding of that particular weight.
But Very dry humor that requires cultural familiarity. Some Western audiences find the pacing opaque.
Over the Garden Wall2014
A beautiful, strange miniseries about two boys lost in an autumn wood, dealing with grief and inadequacy. Like McDull, it's animated but utterly serious about childhood loneliness.
But Only ten episodes and quite dark. Some find it overwrought; the folksy atmosphere isn't for everyone.
Marble Hornets2009
Both use humble formats and low-key visual styles to create their effects. Neither relies on spectacle; both trust that ordinary life contains enough strangeness.
A found-footage web series made by teenagers about a mysterious threat in everyday places. Totally different genre, but it shares McDull's interest in documenting the ordinary and finding something profound in mundane video and low production values.
But It's a creepypasta/horror project—genuinely unsettling. Also spans multiple years with cryptic pacing that feels slow until suddenly it clicks.
Millennium Actress2002
Both are 2001 animated films about people who didn't become what they hoped, and both treat that failure as the most human thing there is. Where McDull is grounded, Kon goes expressionistic, but the heart is in the same place.
Satoshi Kon's animated film about a forgotten actress reflecting on a life spent chasing an ideal that never came. Visually virtuosic where McDull is plain, but identical in its melancholy about dreams that don't come true and the dignity of trying anyway.
But The visual storytelling is intricate and sometimes bewildering. Requires close attention and rewards it, but won't work if you're not invested in watching carefully.
People
Cast
- Lee Chun-WaiMcDull (voice)
Jan Lam Hoi-FungMcDull (Adult) (voice)
Sandra Ng Kwan-YuMrs McDull (voice)
Anthony Wong Chau-SangPrincipal / Logan (voice)- Dejay ChoiMiss Chan (voice)
