Story Synopsis
BLACK DOG takes place on the edge of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, as Lang (Eddie Peng) returns to his hometown after being released from jail. While working for the local dog patrol team, led by Uncle Yao (Jia Zhang-Ke), that is clearing the town of stray dogs before the Beijing Olympics, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog (Xiaoxin) and the two lonely outcasts find purpose in each other. The film had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, where it won the Un Certain Regard Award and Palm Dog Grand Jury Prize.
As the film opens the camera is stationed upon a hill and as the camera slowly follows a bus that is moving down a road, as it scans further down the road, there are tumbleweeds and then a large group of dogs start charging down the hill towards the road. They run in front of the bus and the driver swerves to miss them and the bus crashes and turns on its side.
Thankfully, none of the passengers or dogs are hurt in the accident.
Much like the image above, we the viewer are often observing from a far distance, there are some shots where we are brought in a bit closer to what is happening, but only sometimes.
I found it interesting when we are in a society where everything is very "in your face", whether it be social media, or the common TV show or movie, it's all for the close-up for the most part.
Getting used to this style of filmmaking took me a while to get used to, but when I did I was hooked Eddie Peng(Lang) has a very subtle performance, where he does very little dialogue, unless needed.
Lang has just been released from jail, but we are further told why he was there. He doesn't ask anyone for anything, he knows what he did and is willing to do what it takes to have a different life, now that he is out.
He is put in a group that he is told by a police officer that he has to be a part of. He reluctantly joins the group.
This soon becomes a story of a man and a dog and the friendship that grows over time.
It allows him to find parts of himself that I think he forgot that he had in him, compassion and understanding.
It really turned out to be a totally different film than what I thought it was going to be.
I am not going to give too much away here, below is the trailer.
Comments
Post a Comment