Gouzhen

A beautiful, slow-burn, and memorizing tale of the grim environment of the rural parts of China with strong performances, direction, writing, and structure. Filmmaker Guan Hu achieves with exploring the relationship between man and dog from a Chinese perspective and filled with gorgeous camerawork, sound designs, and interesting narrative choices, it brings out the realism, engagement, and examination of the characters in a nature way.

With little dialogue, the sobering approach, art-house pacing, and style really brings the narrative into a whole new light. The performances from Eddie Peng and the rest of the cast are great and many of the characters, while some characters could have been explored a little better. I appreciate the movie on exploring about dogs, humanism and society without a biased approach and crafting something that is unique.

Having won the Un Certain Regard prize, I can see why.

I had no idea idea what to expect when I saw this movie. It was slow moving but fully engrossing. It is set amongst a somewhat grim environment but really opened my eyes to how people exist in some parts of China. It is an austere existence, barren and treeless yet the town is gearing up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics with propaganda blasted over the loudspeakers in true communist China fashion.

Although it is a sobering film, there are several parts that are quite humorous and while it isn't heavy on dialogue, it is what NOT is said that makes you think.

I can see what this was a winner at CANNES.

"Lang" (Eddie Peng) has returned to his hometown after a term in prison. We learn a little more about the causes of that and of his distant relationship with his zoo-keeping father as the story develops, as well as discovering that he once was one of the place's more famous citizens being in a popular local band. With the Beijing Olympiad (2008) looming large, there is quite an emphasis for the government on tarting the place up - and that signals quite significant "improvements" for their home on the edge of the Gobi desert. Much of it has already been earmarked for demolition, and with most of the heart (and soul) of the place already removed, the authorities turn their attention to the serious problem of hundreds of feral dogs marauding around potentially spreading rabies. There is one particularly skinny black one that is worth 1000 Yuan if it can be caught, and that's the target for the motor-cycling "Lang". Thing is, this mutt is no mug, and is soon doing more of the chasing (and biting). One particularly embarrassing nibble sees both confined to his home in quarantine and that's when the bonds begin to become established and we also realise the extent of hostility felt by some to this man. With the bulldozers never far away, his ailing dad's zoo no longer able to care for it's tenants and the vengeful butcher "Hu" (Hu Xiaoguang) and his thugs out for revenge, we settle into a tale of this newfound friendship that's quite engaging. It's predictable in stages, but it's really the largely dialogue-free effort from Peng set against a backdrop of relentless winds, dust and trains rolling through the increasingly lifeless town that gives this a bit of potency. It's not so much that the town is being cleared because of the Olympics, though that's clearly on director Hu Guan's mind, it's that why was a town ever here in this inhospitable place in the place? It's bleak and forlorn, a concrete oasis in the middle of nowhere and that setting works well as the man himself comes across as lonely, detached as well as emotionally and physically rootless. It's a slow watch, but not one that drags, for two hours and it rather effectively sums up an existence of mundanity, lack of opportunity and a desire for a true sense of freedom quite well. Be warned, not a great deal happens - but I did enjoy it.

This movie is not what I have expected. I was forced to sit through it with a very uninteresting viewing experience. The screen play is quite boring, loosely knitted together with no energy, no steam at all, but just a lifeless narration. What we saw in this movie is a dying town in the northern China, the livelihood is totally gone after the mining business died. What left is a pathetic town with so many ruined and empty buildings, just like what we saw in Flint, Indiana. The leading character, the protagonist as movie critics or veteran reviewers used to describe, Peng, seems to be an bad choice for such ex-con character, a complete out-of-the-place actor to play this role. His dialogue in this movie is minimum in order to portray that this guy is a loner who belongs to nowhere, even in prison, albeit his so-called hometown. There is not much to tell in this movie, and I really failed to see how the director of this movie would have won some nominations as the best director. Maybe less is more is the current trendy. Making a black stray dog as the co-acting role is just not interested enough to stimulate my urge that would give me any passion or empanthy to the whole storyline. I felt quite impatient when I watched this movie. All of the characters who appeared in this movie, those folks, young or old, cops or civilians who tried to get by in a dying town are interested enough, just like their boring dialogue to each other, to the leading role who looked more like a half dumb or deaf person. If a town is dying, if all the town folks are poor, if all of them lose hope, if their daily lives are all so boring, what would enable to make a movie interesting? Even you put a seasoned actor like Peng to play the leading character, how much he could possibly make this boring town with so many boring town folks become a bit more interesting? A spiritless young man and a black stray dog is as boring as Hemingway's "The Old Man and The Sea", other than somewhat literary values that usually was glorified as "Literature". Trying to tell you that "Black Dog" has certain philosophic depth is just a pretentious view that tries to look deep. How could you get anything out of nothing?

Many films about the special relationship between man and his four-legged best friend have been made over the years, and it's a formula that nearly always manages to please. So it is with the latest offering from writer-director Guan Hu, the story of a former inmate who's been paroled to his hometown on the fringe of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China after 10 years in prison for a manslaughter conviction, an incident in which he had apparently become unwittingly involved. As he seeks to make amends for his past and start his life over, former motorcycle stunt artist/musician Lang Yonghui (Eddie Peng) returns to his roots as China had become engaged in an aggressive, ongoing national program of upgrading its infrastructure in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In this case, this undertaking is a much-needed improvement for a faltering community that has become seriously run down and depopulated. And that exodus, in turn, has created a secondary problem: as many former residents departed, they abandoned their pets (especially dogs), creating a population of strays that has now ballooned to overwhelming proportions. Given this preponderance of feral canines - many of whom have become unruly, vicious and a public health risk - local authorities are in desperate need of help in rounding them up. In light of that, as part of Lang's government-sanctioned reintegration program, he is assigned to a job in animal control. But, as something of an unassuming soft touch, he struggles to carry out his duties. That becomes particularly true when he's charged with corralling a gaunt, mangy, assertively territorial black dog (Xin) suspected of having rabies, a scenario that leads to a decidedly belligerent confrontation between man and beast. However, once the stray is in custody, Lang and his captive begin developing an unexpectedly close bond. Lang ends up adopting the pooch, and they thus embark on an odyssey of self-discovery for themselves and one another as they work through issues of their own making and the exploration of their newfound relationship. The result is a heartwarming tale filled with genuine affection and loving mutual support, admittedly sometimes a tad obvious in their depiction but undoubtedly always sincere to the core. The narrative truly works best when it focuses on this primary relationship, a story thread that, regrettably, is sometimes intruded upon a little too much by an array of subplots whose variable, sometimes under-explained development and occasionally meandering nature can detract from what works best. Nevertheless, these minor distractions aside, "Black Dog" is an otherwise-engaging, enjoyable saga of two outcasts in search of redemption and the wonders that the power of friendship can work for those looking to get their lives back on track. But, then, that's why our four-legged furry companions have deservedly earned their reputation as man's best friends. This winner of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Award and Independent Spirit Award nominee for Best International Film is available for streaming online.