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IMDbPro

Dead Pigs

  • 2018
  • Not Rated
  • 2h 2m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Dead Pigs (2018)
Part family drama, part absurdist comedy, all-out social satire: the daring feature debut from Cathy Yan (Birds of Prey) weaves together disparate stories of dreamers and oddballs, recalling the best of Altman. A timely tale of modern-day Shanghai that speaks to the universal need for connection.
Play trailer1:04
3 Videos
45 Photos
ComedyDramaFamilyMusical

A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a... Read allA bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai.A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai.

  • Director
    • Cathy Yan
  • Writer
    • Cathy Yan
  • Stars
    • Vivian Wu
    • Haoyu Yang
    • Meng Li
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Cathy Yan
    • Writer
      • Cathy Yan
    • Stars
      • Vivian Wu
      • Haoyu Yang
      • Meng Li
    • 16User reviews
    • 39Critic reviews
    • 73Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 8 wins & 9 nominations total

    Videos3

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:04
    Official Trailer
    Trailer
    Trailer 1:12
    Trailer
    Trailer
    Trailer 1:12
    Trailer
    Dead Pigs
    Trailer 1:04
    Dead Pigs

    Photos45

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    + 40
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    Top cast12

    Edit
    Vivian Wu
    Vivian Wu
    • Candy Wang
    Haoyu Yang
    Haoyu Yang
    • Old Wang
    • (as Yang Haoyu)
    Meng Li
    Meng Li
    • Xia Xia
    • (as Li Meng)
    Mason Lee
    Mason Lee
    • Wang Zhen
    David Rysdahl
    David Rysdahl
    • Sean Landry
    Zazie Beetz
    Zazie Beetz
    • Angie
    Gang Cai
    Gang Cai
    • Mr. Yu
    • (as Cai Gang)
    Kefan Cao
    • Mr. Liu
    • (as Cao Kefan)
    Archibald C. McColl IV
    Archibald C. McColl IV
    • Phil Johnson
    • (as Archibald Cowan McColl)
    Mengchun Sun
    Mengchun Sun
    • May
    • (as Sun Mengchun)
    Han Wen
    • Zhang Xun
    • (as Wen Han)
    Yuanyuan Xue
    • Watermelon Vendor
    • (as Xue Yuanyuan)
    • Director
      • Cathy Yan
    • Writer
      • Cathy Yan
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews16

    6.81.8K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    7avinashb75

    A satisfying satirical sectioning of society

    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
    6malte-neumann

    Better to cry in a Mercedes than to laugh on a bicycle?

    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).
    7mehobulls

    I love how real these characters feel, and Yan approaches them all with a warm yet honest empathy.

    Little bit this, little bit that, this was a working script with all tragic-comic characters and events rolls on to growing upper capitalism in China. There's nothing new in this heart warming joint; gives you enjoyable watching. Could be bit shorter, bit less melo-dramatic
    10bartlettejed

    Captivating

    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.
    7Pjtaylor-96-138044

    Gently down the stream...

    Cathy Yan's debut feature 'Dead Pigs (2018)' was actually released after her sophomore effort 'Birds Of Prey (2020)' in most territories, a year after releasing in China after making its way around the festival circuit for the prior year. That means that most people, including myself, will have actually been introduced to the director by her much weaker and more obviously studio-dictated second effort, rather than via this impressive and somewhat idiosyncratic first effort that interweaves the lives of several people who are connected to and affected by the actions of a real estate corporation. Loosely based around a real incident in which thousands of dead pigs were found floating in the Huangpu River, the film satirises China's current socioeconomic state by weaving the crushingly familiar with the delicately absurd. In turns downbeat and funny, the narrative hops from character to character as it slowly unveils the ties that bind them all together. Though some are more tangentially linked than others, they all naturally flow into and out of each others' stories. Perhaps the heart of the picture is Vivian Wu's Candy Wang, a stubborn salon owner who insists on staying in the house she grew up in even as everything around her is torn down to make way for a garish new housing project. Her seemingly senseless stubbornness is, in many ways, the bedrock of the narrative, as it reverberates across each storyline and essentially perpetuates the struggles of the characters within them. The picture is occasionally a little slow and its overall length is perhaps a tad indulgent. Some of its quirkier elements also come close to feeling entirely out of place (even if they never quite do) and its theming is a little elusive, comprised of several vague threads that never quite form a complete whole. However, this is a generally enjoyable and well-made effort that gets more and more satisfying as its various plot lines begin to converge. It's a really solid debut that makes some bold choices and is all the better for it.

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Drew Barrymore and Pat Welsh in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    Family
    Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
    Musical

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Soundtracks
      I Only Care About You (Wo zhi zai hu ni)
      Written by Toyohisa Araki and Takashi Miki

      Lyrics by Shen Chih (Shen Zhi)

      Performed by Ya Han Chang

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    FAQ17

    • How long is Dead Pigs?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 12, 2021 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • China
      • United States
    • Languages
      • Mandarin
      • English
      • Shanghainese
    • Also known as
      • Ölü Domuzlar
    • Production companies
      • Beijing Culture
      • Seesaw Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $4,409
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 2m(122 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.68:1

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