Gouzhen

Outstanding drama directed by Hu Guan from China, so, no wonder it won the top honour in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes for this year.

The story revolves around a guy who, following a period of incarceration, comes home and takes a job ridding a town of stray dogs in time for the Olympic Games. The drama is set on the edge of the Gobi desert in Northwest China. However, he unexpectedly bonds with a black dog, and the two of them set out on a new adventure.

The dog star of the movie took home a dog award earlier in the day when he received the Palm Dog Grand Jury prize! If you love dogs, amazing cinematography, exceptional acting and directing - do not miss this one... impossible not to enjoy it!

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.

The Gobi desert is impressive in its desolation, but what's even more so is the desolation of this run-down small town just before the Beijing Olympic Games from 2008. I don't think I have ever seen something quite like it, on screen or in reality. This is dystopia on earth, in the not so distant past. I guess it's the only thing quietly criticizing the regime or showing the failure of Chinese society, good thing the movie is focused on something else entirely and probably that's how it got past censorship, but I am still impressed.

No animals were harmed during the making of this movie. Kidding. No, but seriously, I do not understand how they made this movie. Packs of stray dogs, it's the humans that are guilty. How many dogs this town has managed to abandon is again impressive.

Should have ended with the animals roaming free on the town streets, that felt like the climax of the movie and had a bit of a surreal feel.

Is dog man the equivalent of cat lady?

It didn't quite work for me, despite what my eyes were able to take in. I couldn't connect to the character or even root for him in particular. The plot felt aimless. Those bozos chasing him for revenge kept popping up and doing the most heinous things and then they would let it go. And then again. It made no sense. And honestly after the snakes they were irredeemable. In fact quite a lot of questionable characters here. Our lead is not particularly sympathetic either.

But OMG Jia Zhangke acts in this movie! I was actually comparing the look to Unknown Pleasures. I guess he wanted to support the movie.

It's a good movie and i wish i would have liked it more and rated it higher. It's so well directed that made me somewhat enjoy it even though nothing significant was happening, specifically during the first 50 minutes. The parallelism between the leading character and this dog was spot-on, the development of their "relationship" as well.

But still, there are some big flaws. First of all, its running time. It should have been at least 15 minutes shorter. I said i enjoyed it but it was too uneventful at some point. I love poetic and minimalist movies but not like this. Story is almost beautiful but simple, there was no reason to stretch it out so much. Ok, it was beautifully shot but after all, it was mostly an urban landscape.

And as another reviewer already mentioned, at times "The plot felt aimless". I didn't understand the entirety of what happened in this movie. Random things kept happening without promoting the story.

However, despite its flaws, this is a good and ambitious movie, well directed as i said but well acted too. The leading character was silent but as a viewer, i understood him, i felt his alienation, his quite desperation and his bond with this dog, the whole thing was touching and natural, not for a moment it felt fake. There were some gorgeous scenes, a great soundtrack with Pink Floyd's songs which were used so effective. And the ending was powerful.

A meditative movie which could have been so much better.

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.