‘Black Dog’ Review: Man Bites Dog, Becomes His Best Friend in Gorgeously Offbeat Canine Caper From China - Hollywood Reporter
Chinese director Guan Hu's visually stunning new feature, Black Dog , starts off with a familiar premise: After spending a decade behind bars, an ex-con named Lang (Eddie Peng) returns to his tiny native city in Northwest China on the outskirts of the Gobi Desert. He tries to integrate into regular life, but certain demons from his past come back to haunt him. If this sounds like any number of throwaway B-movies, or like the plot of the recent Sylvester Stallone series Tulsa King , be advised that Black Dog is not that kind of thing at all. First off, it's unclear who, exactly, the title is referring to. Is it the film's total outcast of a protagonist, who barely utters a full sentence to anyone — including his own father — as he attempts to settle into a place that doesn't want him? Or is it the stray black greyhound he meets in town, with whom he winds up forming a special bond? Related Stories ...