“Dead Pigs” is the debut film for director Cathy Yan. In a statement, Yan refers to present-day China as a “fascinating, exaggerated, complicated, ridiculous and wonderful setting for my first film.” A contradictory place indeed—governed by the Communist Party, and on paper, a society that is supposed to be moving toward socialism—the Chinese have to navigate a difficult path in which they are pushed to embrace modernity. However, that crashes with old traditions where family connections were still important.
“Dead Pigs” takes its title from the sudden and disastrous massive deaths of thousands of pigs thrown into a local river. The peasants, in turn, are now facing economic ruin. One of them is Old Wang (Haoyu Yang), who we first see at the beginning of the movie enjoying the novelty of virtual reality. He has also fallen for an investing scam. His son Wang Zhen (Mason Lee) lives in the city and has told his father that there he has a good life—in fact, he works as a waiter.
The new China of unbridled consumerism is reflected in the lives of Xia Xia (Li Meng) and his father, a wealthy man. In contrast, most of the other characters just live ordinary existences with no many reasons for happiness. There is an exception, though: Candy Wang (Vivian Wu), Old Wang’s sister and who lives in a big old house, which is now the only one standing in a place where a major real estate development is underway. Candy is an eccentric woman who shares her home with a dog and a few dozen pigeons. She was born in that house and is now resisting the developers who want to buy and tear down her property.
The developers’ project is also an ironic look at the emergence in China of that class of people characterized as nouveau rich: crude, unsophisticated, and tasteless. The developers plan to build a mall and large buildings in a “European style”. To give that Old-World atmosphere, they plan to make a copy of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia.
The conflict will unleash as Candy has to face more pressure and some dirty tricks from the developers. An American executive with the developer company, Sean Landry (David Rysdahl), tries some gentle approach to convince Candy to sell. Instead, she will give him a pigeon. However, eventually, more drastic types of pressure would be put on her. The new China needs to eliminate houses like hers and build new giant towers, following the American urban model.
“Dead Pigs”, with doses of humour and drama, provides an engaging look into how the Chinese face the changes happening in their midst, changes that on most occasions don’t seem to have been consulted with them. A well-structured narrative will keep the audience interested.
In Chinese with English subtitles, some dialogues in English too. Available on various VOD platforms.
Duration: 122 min
Other articles from mtltimes.ca – totimes.ca – otttimes.ca
RIDERS OF JUSTICE: Logarithms and criminal gangs
Montrealer Teneisha Collins joins Kevin Hart and cast in the heartwarming film Fatherhood
