Movie Digest
When his pregnant wife, Meiling, approaches her due date, truck driver Xu Dong is forced to give up his pet puppy. By chance, Ma Qianli, a bankrupt real estate entrepreneur, is now the new dog owner. When confronted with debt collectors later, Ma is forced to boil the dog in order to treat them. The dog’s death turns the two frustrated men into enemies. Xu wants retribution with wrath, but after multiple failed attempts, he finds himself sympathizing with Ma’s predicament, making the plot difficult to carry through. Meanwhile, Meiling discovers Xu’s love affair.
Inexhaustible rage spreads among the three. People, like the Manchurian tiger, who have become accustomed to being fed by ‘zookeepers’ and are imprisoned in their routine farce of life, soaking in the sun that shines through the cage.
The Feel-Good Part
A dark comedy that sets a precedent for the barrage of jokes that puts most humor to shame. This movie is filled with moments satirizing our own mundane lives with its ridiculous plot and that is the best part. The metaphorical reference made to the Manchurian Tiger with the film’s title is no coincidence! The characters are so awkward and funny it’s endearing. And of course, who can forget the dog! The dog itself deserves all the love because who can resist its eyes and cuteness.
The Disappointing Factor
The film’s pace is slow, especially because the director’s signature comedy is focused on letting it sink and examining the actors’ unmoving faces. Another common ploy is to have the character speak to the camera while staring at the viewer, giving the impression of “breaking the fourth wall,” when in fact they are speaking to their interlocutor. It has a strong and nearly hypnotic impact. Having said that, the film feels longer than its 2 hours, as all those pauses might become tedious after a while and lose some of their effectiveness if repeated too frequently.
In-Depth Analysis
The film is another study of the region’s mordant, deadpan humour in a snow-covered landscape, shot in and around Hegang, a coal-producing city near the Russian border just north of Geng’s birthplace in Yilan, Heilongjiang province. Despite being slightly more approachable and content-wise than Geng’s prior works, it suffers from the same flaws of over-length, obscurity for the purpose of obscurity, and a lack of change in tone and pacing. Tiger is a far more eccentric morality tale than Geng’s other films, but it never becomes preachy. The film’s deliberate slowness becomes an affectation rather than a strength beyond the middle, as there is no shift in tempo or rhythm. The final half-hour is chaos.
Star Power
Geng Jun is recognized for his artistic vision of filmmaking, writing dark comedies set in his hometown of Hegang in Heilongjiang, a place the filmmaker is personally attached to and where he frequently travels to visit friends and relatives. His writings are filled with anti-conformist, disturbed people, many of whom are inspired by his own friends, yet the fictional universe located in North-East China is entirely fictitious. The cast of “Manchurian Tiger” is exceptional, with much expertise. Zhang Yu has appeared in major Chinese films such as “Dying to Survive,” “A Cool Fish,” “Back to The Warf,” and “An Elephant Sitting Still,” and he is very apt, with his subtly expressive face, as the confused Xu Dong, but the best has to be Zhang Zhiyong as the dramatically funny Ma Qianli, who is taking all sorts of stones (literally) life throws at him!
Overall Opinion
Although the film gets a little weird in terms of pacing and storyline, it is still an entertaining watch. The whole story is about dysfunctionality, something a lot of us know about in today’s time. I felt the whole vibe of the film resemble something like an A24 Production or an HBO Max one, therefore I can guarantee that the film has its quaint charm.
