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The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together
Tale
After being released from prison, Lang returns to his hometown in northwestern China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with removing stray dogs ahead of the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray dog. Eddie Peng [the main character] bonded so strongly with Xin, the dog featured in the film, that he adopted him after filming was completed.
“Lang” (Eddie Peng) returned to his hometown after serving his prison sentence
As the story progresses, we learn a bit more about the reasons behind this, his distant relationship with his father, who ran a zoo, and we also discover that he was once one of the more famous citizens of the town, playing in a popular local band. With the 2008 Beijing Olympics approaching, the government is putting a lot of pressure on the place to spruce it up—and that means some pretty significant “upgrades” to their home on the edge of the Gobi Desert. Much of it has already been earmarked for demolition, and with much of the heart (and soul) of the place already gone, authorities are turning their attention to the serious problem of hundreds of feral dogs roaming the area, potentially spreading rabies.
One particularly embarrassing bite lands them both in quarantine at home, and bonds begin to form, and we also get a sense of the extent of the hostility some feel towards this man
There’s one particularly skinny black one who’s worth 1,000 yuan if you can catch him, and he’s the target of motorcyclist “Lang.” The thing is, this mutt is no sucker, and soon starts chasing (and biting) more. With bulldozers always nearby, his sick father’s zoo no longer able to care for its tenants, and the vengeful butcher “Hu” (Hu Xiaoguang) and his thugs bent on revenge, we delve into the story of this newfound friendship, which is quite engaging. It’s predictable in parts, but it’s really Peng’s largely dialogue-free effort against the backdrop of the constant winds, dust, and trains passing through an increasingly dead city that gives it some punch.
I warn you, not much happens – but I liked it
It’s not so much the fact that the city is being cleared for the Olympics, although that’s clearly on director Hu Guan’s mind, but why did the city exist here, in this inhospitable place, at all? It’s bleak and dreary, a concrete oasis in the middle of nowhere, and the setting works well because the man himself seems lonely, disconnected, and emotionally and physically rootless. It’s a slow but not lingering film, clocking in at two hours, and pretty effectively summarizing an existence of mundanity, lack of opportunity, and the desire for a true sense of freedom.
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