After recent patriotic blockbusters such as “My People, My Country” (2019) and “The Eight Hundred” (2020), director Guan Hu is back to his “sixth generation” roots, with a film that might not be low budget, but it has a big indie heart. “Black Dog” bagged the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in May of this year, and its lead canine, Xiao Xin, a Jack Russell-greyhound cross, received the Grand Jury Prize at the Palm Dog Award.
Black Dog is screening at Festival International des Cinemas d’Asie de Vesoul
It’s the summer of 2008 and the Beijing Olympics are about to kick off. On a dusty road in the outskirts of China’s Gobi Desert, a rickety minibus is heading towards its destination when a pack of feral dogs appears on the street in front of it and causes the bus to tip over. Within the shell-shocked passengers, there is Lang (Eddie Peng) an ex-convict returning to his hometown. Most probably not the kind of arrival he had envisioned, Lang is in fact a taciturn young man who used to be a bit of local celebrity as a stunt motorcyclist and is now haunted by his past mistakes that caused the death of one of his peers and his consequent imprisonment. Mirroring Lang’s downturn, even the city, that used to be a thriving mining site, is now a ghostly agglomerate of housing compounds – mostly abandoned – and shuttered shops, due to the ceased mining program, and now scheduled for demolition.
Opposite to the scarce human population, a large number of stray dogs, probably abandoned by the fleeting owners, roam the place, and a special squad has been appointed to catch them, as part of a government scheme to prevent the spread of rabies. Being maybe the only profitable enterprise in town, Lang decides to join the dog patrol team headed by Uncle Yao (director Jia Zhangke) who knew him before jail and is one of the few in town who watches over him with benevolence. Shy and introverted, Lang is not comfortable with other humans but during his duty he gets to know a scrawny and elusive black dog (Jack Russell-greyhound cross Xiao Xin) that everybody tries to catch as suspected to be rabid, and after a bite and a forced quarantine together, they become deeply connected. While everything around Lang is collapsing, from the abandoned town to his own father who is drinking himself to death, they will get strength from each other for a challenging rebirth.
Like in the best tradition of American Western films, a man with a shady past arrives in a town at the edge of civilization. “Black Dog” is a bona fide example of a tale of the frontier set against the backdrop of rugged life on the borders of settled society. “Black Dog”’s lone hero Lang keeps his emotions in check and this restraint adds to his aura of strength and control. However, despite his stoic demeanor, he struggles to deal with his past and present. Like a symbolic representation of his mistakes, butcher Hu follows him around carrying a funeral portrait of his nephew – whose death he blames Lang for – and demanding retribution. Lang doesn’t fully belong to the town, but he will find a soulmate in the canine form, and the strength to stand up and reinvent his life stems from his own animal side, bringing up an instinctive sense of survival.
It is an extremely simple story of a man and an animal set on a deeply rich backdrop; a universal tale on a very “there and then” timeline. The film is in fact firmly rooted in its time and captures the zeitgeist of those years’ China and the apogee of its contradictions: building wildly and at the same time demolishing frantically. It’s a country split between a fast economical growth and the past, shifting from traditional industries to more diversified economic models. The juxtaposition of the protagonist’s crumbling hometown at the edge of urbanization with the constant reminders of the imminent Beijing Olympics that blurts out from the ubiquitous tannoys, creates a claustrophobic effect and a adds a note of black humour.
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With its vivid imagination, magic surrealism, and exploration of the human condition, “Black Dog” reminded me of Fellini’s work, especially when elements like the circus, the zoo, the eclipse come to play and intertwine, creating dreamlike sequences and a rich tapestry of symbolism. Moreover, the rationalism of the forgotten town architecture is incredibly reminiscent of the settings of Italian neorealism and its Mussolini-era buildings; I am sure this is only coincidental, but it adds an interesting layer to the alienating atmosphere. The splendid work of DP Gao Weizhe creates a unique cinematic world that is both enchanting and introspective; when a moonlight palette enhances the timeless landscapes of the Gobi Desert, as well as when the scorching light draws harsh shadows of the decaying, deserted buildings. Elegant and smooth, the editing by French master Matthieu Laclau completes the picture, showing once again the skills he refined working with many great Chinese directors, from Jia Zhangke, to Diao Yinan to Taiwanese Midi Z. Finally, the Pink Floyd’s soundtrack adds a touch of magic originality to this work and its rock-and-roll protagonist.
Eddie Peng has grown into an accomplished and eclectic professional through a stream of diverse roles and in “Black Dog” he embodies taciturn Lang in a strong physical performance with only sparse lines. His effort is also particularly commendable considering that his sidekick is a canine one; a lovely dog, winner of the Palm Dog Award, but still a possibly unpredictable coworker. Tong Liya is a guts of fresh wind in a film that is mainly male-actor-populated, and her character, the circus worker Grape, manages to leave a mark in both the audience and Lang’s life.
“Black Dog” blends humour and melancholy, extravagant visual compositions and simple storytelling, managing to be universal and topical at the same time.
