Dead Pigs

This is one of those movies dealing with the effects of capitalism, as if they were essentially some sort of a Chinese thing. There seems always money available to fund a movie that deals with commodification, estrangement and deracination, even exploration and criminality in China, an established relocation of Western middle class anxieties. Dead Pigs, as part of this agenda, is mostly watchable, with truly compelling cinematography and a splendid performance by Vivian Wu and Yang Haoyu. The screenplay nevertheless left me skeptical. There are some nice absurdities in it and there is a unsettling colonial vibe with some white models in a theme park housing complex. Nevertheless the main characters' background were unconvincingly cobbled together and the author doesn't seem to take their misery all too seriously. I had some issues with the gleefully soundtrack, a vexing contrast to the perceptive camera, underlining Yan's willingness to change instantly from depression to irony, culminating in the scene with the excavator with its surreal turn, after which the movie came to a conciliable, even optimistic end. But then during closing credits you see dead ducks floating in the river, accompanied by a bittersweet pop song, the very same the crowd chanted in front of the excevator, a last indication of the director's waywardness (I probably didn't get the symbolic message).

I watched this film on a transatlantic flight having never heard of it before and choosing solely based on having heard the director being in charge of the upcoming DCEU venture. Overall, it paints a satirical picture of Chinese society, though you can't help feeling that the generic nature of the stories comments on societal paradigms globally. Certainly, many of the situations, actions and reactions would be quite commonplace in India. The cinematography was so amazing I felt annoyed watching it on a small screen, and the over the top acting was befitting the satirical nature of the piece. The recurring motifs of contamination and destruction really hit home, while carefully not banging you over the head with their message. If you can seek it out, definitely worth a watch

Wow. This was a beautifully made film full of human warmth despite the cold bitter taste of capitalism permeating throughout. A scathing portrayal of the China's rapid development and how China's unquestioning embrace of capitalism forcably strips its citizens of a sense of home and belonging. Incredible to think that this was a directorial debut too. Loved it.

As far as I can tell, she plays an inconsequential role, briefly shoehorned in and without much connection to the plot. Bizarre.

Anyway, as to the main core cast, there's quite a variety of mood and styles in this cautionary tale of ultra-capitalism; I suspect I was supposed to find more of it funny than I did (e.g. The father?) but Vivian Wu pulls it together as Candy with quite a nuanced performance in the (fairly ridiculous) circumstances. The young romance is OK also.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to make of the ending though - "loose ends" doesn't even begin to cover it!

Worth a look nevertheless.

A pig farmer, a beauty salon owner, a young waiter, a wealthy girl and an architect share adventures when thousands of dead pigs appear in Shanghai's central river. Based on true events (in 2013, 16,000 pigs were found in the Huangpu River, infected with PCV), this film marks the debut of Cathy Yan as a director, who 2 years later (2020), makes herself known to the western world with Birds of Prey. The characters are excellent examples of the personification of various problems in modern societies, such as the lack of empathy, ambition, fear of facing reality or the social economic gap between classes. There's a clear western view on the narrative, so that the public can identify itself with the story, but it is still a very interesting set of ideas, and a kind of wake-up call for the Chinese boom at a global level.