Regardless of how badly your week goes, it’s price pausing to understand the truth that you’re not presently embroiled in a violent feud with a snake venom seller who calls himself Butcher Hu. However we are able to’t all be so fortunate.
Lang (Eddie Peng) is a modified man since popping out of jail. Emotionally callused and silent by alternative, you’d by no means guess that he was as soon as a beloved entertainer who performed rock music and rode bikes within the native circus. However when he leaves the joint and returns to his small hometown in China’s Gobi Desert, there’s nothing ready for him besides unhealthy vibes. His father is ingesting himself to dying on the native zoo, his neighbors resent him for his perceived crimes and assume he obtained a light-weight sentence due to his movie star, and his city is overrun with rabid canines. To make issues worse, the native snake meat and kebab mogul is able to sick his goons on Lang and his household to get revenge for outdated grievances.
So begins “Black Canine,” Guan Hu’s desert-set redemption saga that marries a pulpy thirst for revenge with the sentimental perception that generally a superb canine is sufficient to flip all the things round. Lang succumbs to the age-old neo-noir protagonist’s fallacy of pondering that the ghosts of his previous will go away him alone if he simply retains his head down and mouth shut whereas he builds a brand new life. He takes a job on a squad tasked with rounding up the entire stray canines forward of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a grueling job made more durable by the truth that the city lives in concern of a black canine that purportedly has rabies. Everybody has been warned to avoid the harmful animal in any respect prices, however out of some mixture of contrarian instincts and sympathy for a fellow outcast, Lang decides to defy orders and befriend the animal. Suffice it to say, that proves to be a smart alternative when his world begins to shut in round him.
It has change into more and more obvious lately that taking up the huge building tasks required to host an Olympics isn’t the sort of authorities useful resource allocation that advantages many voters. Maybe that’s why so many latest video games have been held in authoritarian nations, the place political corruption makes it simpler to expedite large tasks with out that pesky will of the individuals getting in the way in which. “Black Canine” straight engages with the strain between the immense pleasure that China took in internet hosting the 2008 video games — which many considered as a popping out get together for a previously authoritarian nation that had determined it was prepared to hitch the Western world — and the value that its precise residents paid to host the lavish occasion.
That setting turns into the strongest facet of “Black Canine,” which takes place in place within the shadows of the Olympics because the individuals being displaced by the pageantry lead lives of quiet desperation. Guan makes use of the sparse surroundings to construct a world of crumbling neon indicators, snake meat stands, and roadside circuses — a desert panorama with greater than sufficient cracks for evil to nestle into. As time goes on, an ensemble of carnies, alcoholics, mechanics, and different misfits with secrets and techniques — together with Jia Zhangke in a very memorable supporting flip — slowly emerges from the seemingly empty city. The tough backdrop evokes components of each Westerns and movie noir, giving Peng the proper canvas for his silent drifter act. That noir-like depth proves to be an ironic complement to what’s finally a easy man-and-his-dog story, however Peng’s magnetic digicam presence is the binding agent that unifies all the things right into a coherent story of redemption within the unlikeliest of locations.
Whereas the plot runs out of fuel and infrequently threatens to go off the rails, Guan’s sturdy visible course ensures that “Black Canine” by no means ceases to be fascinating. The filmmaker demonstrates a eager eye for framing the desert surroundings, and lots of the motion sequences are choreographed with a geometrically complicated density that’s paying homage to Jacques Tati. The skillful course permits “Black Canine” to alternate between darkish comedy and hardboiled crime with ease as the 2 misplaced souls piece collectively one thing resembling a brand new life.
Relying on the way you take a look at it, “Black Canine” is both probably the most violently wicked feel-good animal film in latest reminiscence or probably the most healthful neo-noir we’ve seen shortly. Lang may not get the happiest ending on the planet, however the delicate rays of sunshine that start to seep via Peng’s face are sufficient to inform us that the seeds of redemption can develop roots in even the darkest pits of corruption.
Grade: B
“Black Canine” premiered on the 2024 Cannes Movie Competition. It’s presently looking for U.S. distribution.