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LUCKY DOG

By Meng ZHANG

CHINA FILM PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL - as SALES All rights, World

Family - Completed 2007

- Year of production
- 2007
- Genres
- Family
- Countries
- CHINA
- Languages
- MANDARIN
- Duration
- 98 mn
- Director(s)
- Meng ZHANG
- Writer(s)
- Meng ZHANG
- Cast
- Wei FAN
- Producer(s)
- Guoguang ZHAO (Changchun Film Group Co., Ltd)
- Synopsis
- After 40 years' loyal service on the railroad as a mechanical engineer,
  Wang Kangmei (Fan) has retired. Though his wife (Cheng Shubo) is in
  hospital and his income is now a fraction of what it was, Wang remains
  resolutely optimistic.
  A modern version of Lu Xun's classic Chinese innocent Ah Q, Wang has
  never questioned any aspect of his life or his country's history. He
  reads the official papers, listens to radio news programs and goes about
  his daily routine with bluff confidence. And he's determined to find
  some kind of work, deeming himself still employable at age 55.
  Majority of the pic is set during the following day, as Wang moves
  around the city, meeting various people. Though the structure is
  basically episodic, the film never lingers too long on any one vignette,
  and the tight editing by Ma Yanyan and helmer Zhang's ear for natural
  dialogue make for a gently flowing portrait, not only of Wang himself,
  but of a whole human landscape in an average, ramshackle town in
  northeast China. (Pic shot in Ji'an, in Jilin province.)
  First up, Wang has his fortune told by a woman with a roadside computer
  (Liang Shuang); next, he visits a shoeshine lady (Xiang Yan); then, he
  takes over for a while from a pedicabber (Guan Xiaoping) whose rig is
  fitted with a stereo music center; and finally, he tries auditioning for
  a local opera troupe.
  Each of these encounters ends badly, with Wang sometimes not even
  realizing it's ended badly. But he carries on, finally visiting his
  infirm father (Zhao Naixun), who secretly worries about him. Day is also
  peppered with trips to his wife's bedside.