Keswick Film Club - Reviews - Black Dog

I think this might be the first film I have ever seen where the star has no lines to say; like Clint Eastwood before him, Eddie Peng plays the archetypal loner here as Lang who we meet when his bus crashes on his way home after he is released from prison having served 10 years for manslaughter. We also meet the other main 'stars' at the same time – the crash is caused when the driver swerves to avoid a huge gang of feral dogs.

The 'action' takes place on the edge of the Gobi Dessert as China prepares for the 2008 Olympic Games; Lang's hometown is being bulldozed in readiness and there are now more dogs than people. There is little actual action in this film, which left around half the audience unimpressed; I was in the other half, however, who found it fascination viewing. It did win an award at Cannes and was voted a Top 50 film of 2024 by the BFI, so we were not alone in liking it!

Lang continued his almost silent role – apparently more sympathetic to the dogs than to the people. Bitten twice by the feared-rabid dog of the title, he eventually befriends it. By the end, Black Dog has died as has his father and he rides his motorbike into the sunset with Black Dog's puppy in his backpack, apparently a happier man…

Not an easy film to describe, but it was the stark beauty of the dessert combined with Lang's totally laconic reaction to events around him that fascinated me; somehow the film became totally gripping.