Screenshot Asia: Black Dog

It’s 2008 and, far from the Beijing Olympics, Lang (Eddie Peng, Are You Lonesome Tonight?) returns from a stint in prison to the decaying hometown he hasn’t seen in years. There, he finds no-one is happy to welcome him back, and the arid settlement is about to be demolished to build large-scale factories. Haunted by the past and confronted with an uncertain future, Lang tries to get work as a ‘bounty hunter’ of stray dogs but ends up falling into an unlikely camaraderie with a rabid dog he’s forced to quarantine with.

The film’s breakout canine star, Xiao Xin, was adopted by Peng after the shoot. The pair travelled to Cannes together, where Black Dog screened in the Un Certain Regard sidebar – and where Xiao Xin won the Palm Dog’s Grand Jury Prize. Filled with expansive imagery and percolating with sly cultural critique, Guan Hu’s poignant latest has earned comparisons to the work of Jia Zhang-ke (who appears herein as a dog hunter!). Depicting human–animal friendship without excessive sentimentality, Black Dog meets its titular character on his own terms, finding profundity in the interplay of two different but simpatico species.

Directed by Guan Hu

2024 | China | Mandarin language with English subtitles | DCP