A household name and noughties heartthrob in his native Taiwan, the latest leading role for actor and singer Eddie Peng marks a departure from his usual line of work. An arthouse crime drama of sorts, Black Dog is written and directed by acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Guan Hu and takes place in the remarkable but desolate fringes of the Gobi desert.
The plot initially has the trappings of the Western genre, following tight-lipped ex-con Lang (Peng) as he returns to his hometown after a stretch in prison. Looking for purpose, his probation officer advises he join a local program designed to tackle the town’s stray dog problem by removing them ahead the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In doing so, he forms an unlikely bond with a feral Jack Russell-greyhound cross.
Opening with a lingering landscape set piece that looks as though it has been carefully painted by a fine artist, the breathtaking shot introduces of steely palette of silvery blues and greys and establishes the slow-cinema style. There’s an interesting sense of time and place for what could have been quite a politically-fuelled story as authorities prepare their country for the global stage, but the narrative takes a much more intimate angle. Guan Hu patiently constructs an unorthodox buddy movie between man and dog, with Lang and the eponymous canine finding common ground as runts discarded by society.
With a sparse screenplay that the director has co-written with Ge Rui and Wu Bing, Eddie Peng portrays the central role as a protagonist of very few words. We get a subtle sense of his motivations as he cannily undoes the cruel work of his colleagues – a nicely captured sequence where he returns a pup to its grateful young owner gives us the most endearing insight into our antihero, but the film leaves you wanting more emotional depth in the character we spend almost every scene in the company of.
Xin the dog was deservedly won for the Palm Dog Grand Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where the film itself was awarded the coveted Un Certain Regard. The wiry star outshines an actor that feels a little out of place in this delicate fable of redemption, but Guan Hu’s handsomely crafted tale is worth seeing for Gao Weizhe’s striking cinematography alone.
Cinema Perspective 