13/15
The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together
Narrative
Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. Eddie Peng [the lead] established such a strong bond with Xin, the dog featured in the film, that he adopted him after filming had wrapped..
"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.
Thing is, this mutt is no mug, and is soon doing more of the chasing (and biting)
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". 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 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 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 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.