The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together
Plot
Released from prison, Lang returns to his hometown in northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with eliminating stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. Eddie Peng [the protagonist] has formed such a strong bond with Xin, the dog featured in the film, that he adopted him after filming wrapped.
for their home on the edge of the Gobi Desert
"Lang" (Eddie Peng) has returned to his hometown after a prison sentence. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the reasons for this and his distant relationship with his zookeeper father, as well as discovering that he was once one of the town’s most famous citizens and was part of a popular local band. With the Beijing Olympics (2008) looming, there is some emphasis on the government’s challenge to challenge the place – and this signals some pretty significant “improvements”.
Thing is, this mutt is no mosquito and will soon start chasing (and biting) more
Much of it has already been earmarked for demolition and, with much of the heart (and soul) of the place already removed, the authorities turn their attention to the serious problem of hundreds of feral dogs roaming around potentially spreading rabies. There’s one particularly skinny black one worth 1000 Yuan if he can catch it, and that’s the target of motorcyclist “Lang”. One particularly awkward snack sees them both confined to his home in quarantine and it’s then that bonds begin to form and we also realise the extent of the hospitality some have shown towards this man.
(Hu Xiaoguang) and his henchmen out for revenge, we get to a story of this newfound friendship that is quite gripping
With the bulldozers far away, his father’s waiting zoo is no longer able to care for its tenants and the vengeful butcher “Hu” finds himself in a bind. It’s predictable in stages, but it’s actually Peng’s largely dialogue-free effort set against a backdrop of relentless winds, dust and trains barrelling through the increasingly lifeless city that gives it all some power. It’s not so much that the city is being evacuated because of the Olympics, although that’s clearly on director Hu Guan’s mind, it’s why was a city ever here in this inhospitable place?
Mind you, not much happens, but I liked it
It’s pale and desolate, a solid oasis in the middle of nowhere and that setting works well as the man himself comes across as solitary, aloof and emotionally and physically rootless. It’s a slow watch, but not a drag, for two hours and it sums up quite well an existence of mundanity, lack of opportunity and longing for a real sense of freedom.