Black Dog review – state-of-the-Chinese-nation drama with feelgood furry antics

Hu has most recently overseen a few state-sponsored prestige pics, so it is a surprise seeing him slip into the kind of societally probing work more akin to that of Jia Zhangke (who appears here as the leader of the dog catchers). Initially, the film operates in a similar vein of stifling realism, as Lang slopes around the city’s decaying estates and the charred desert fringes. But there is something innately funny about a squadron of dog-catching minions sprinting after a bevy of hounds; thereafter the director never misses a chance for deadpan framing, like the gangsters catching up with Lang while he is bungee-jumping.