WATCH PARTY: Black Dog (2024) dir. Guan Hu @ Richard Tucker Library
Details
I've seen a previous movie by this director (Mr. Six) which was pretty entertaining, but the blurbs make me think this movie may be a more refined piece of work.
We'll be in the meeting room with the nice big screen to the left of the entrance at Richard Tucker.
RUNTIME: 116 minutes
RATED: Unrated (animal cruelty and suicide references, per AI)
SYNOPSIS: On the edge of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, Lang (Eddie Peng) returns to his hometown after being released from prison after a lengthy stint in jail. While working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the 2008 Olympic Games, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog. Two lonely souls, Lang and the black dog play silent sentinels in a landscape of danger, and of change in China’s regions.
Directed by Guan Hu (The Eight Hundred), a Chinese sixth generation director usually known for big-budget action box-office record breakers, BLACK DOG is a one-of-a-kind crowd-pleasing riff on crime thrillers, westerns, neo-noirs and canine comedies, with more than a few nods to Mad Max and Easy Rider.
Featuring a cheeky starring turn from legendary Chinese director Jia Zhangke and a Palm Dog Jury Prize winning performance from Xin as the black dog, whom Eddie Peng adopted after finishing the film, Guan Hu’s foray into arthouse is a truly unique cinematic experience that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
BLURBS:
"Black Dog registers as an existential fable about isolation, redemption, the possibility of making connections against the odds. It is also a crime thriller and a dazzling piece of landscape cinema." - Jonathan Romney, Financial Times
"Guan’s approach gives the scenes of violence or tragedy a certain antic, Buster Keaton quality, which is enhanced by both Peng’s impassive yet physically expressive performance, and that of his wonderful canine co-star." - Jessica Kang, Variety
"Next to Umberto D., Chinese director Guan Hu may just have made the enduring masterpiece of man-and-dog movies -- Citizen Canine, if you will -- in this soul-filling homecoming odyssey set on the windswept fringes of the Gobi Desert." - Philip de Semlyen, Time Out