China / 2024 / 106 min / Mandarin with English subtitles / Dark Comedy
On the edge of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, Lang returns to his hometown after being released from jail. While working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the Olympic Games, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog. These two lonely souls now embark on a new journey together.
Winner of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section (which most value higher than the Main Competition), BLACK DOG is a crowd pleaser. Don’t worry if you are wondering what’s going on, during the first 10 minutes or so, it will all fall into line with the subtleties the director has put in. The humor, for the most part, is dry, although some bits are spontaneous laugh-out-loud funny. There is also a great deal of pathos. And it goes without saying, if you like dogs, this will be a treat…perhaps bittersweet.
DIRECTOR: A graduate of the class of 1991 of the Beijing Film Academy, Guan became the youngest director in the Beijing Film Studio. In the 1990s, Guan directed a handful of films making a name as an important voice of the sixth generation, most notably with his debut, 1994’s Dirt. A portrayal of Beijing’s rock music scene, Dirt was filmed on a shoestring budget and was funded primarily by lead actress, Kong Lin. Dirt is often compared with another major sixth generation film about the Beijing rock scene, Zhang Yuan’s Beijing Bastards. Unlike that film, Guan Hu paid nearly US$2000 for state studio affiliation, allowing the film to be distributed in China and screened abroad with approval from state regulators.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT: I’ve found that dogs share similarities with human beings. You can communicate with them. In the film, I see the black dog as not just an animal but as an individual like Erlang, fighting both loneliness and prejudice.
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