Manchurian Tiger

GENG Jun

China〡2021〡Fic〡Color〡118 min〡Mandarin
✧ 2021 Golden Goblet Best Feature Film, Shanghai International Film Festival
✧ 2022 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

Truck driver Xu Dong has to send his beloved dog away when his pregnant wife, Meiling, approaches her due date. By coincidence, Ma Qianli, a real estate developer heavily in debt, now becomes the new dog owner. When later confronted by debt collectors, Ma has to cook the dog to treat them. The death of the dog turns the two frustrated men into foes. Xu seeks vengeance with rage though after several failed attempts, and he finds himself sympathizing with Ma’s plight and feeling impossible to carry on with the plan. Meanwhile, Meiling finds out about Xu’s love affair.

Director

GENG Jun

GENG Jun grew up in Heilongjiang, China. Without any film school training, he moved to Beijing and directed many films including HAWTHORN (Short, 2002), DIARY IN BULK (Short, 2003), BARBECUE (2004), YOUTH (2008), AIRPLANE (Short, 2012) and THE HAMMER AND THE SICKLE ARE SLEEPING (Short, 2013). He gained more attention with FREE AND EASY (2016) when it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival and received four major nominations at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival including Best Film and Best Director. His most recent film MANCHURIAN TIGER (2021) won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival.

11.06 ㊐ 19:30〡台南新光影城 4 廳〡 Q&A session with the Director
11.13 ㊐ 21:40〡台南新光影城 4 廳
Buying Tickets

被生活挫盡銳氣、走頭無路的人們擠出殘存的力氣復仇。小仇大仇,新仇舊恨,在冷冽的大地上滾成荒誕的雪球。

I wrote MANCHURIAN TIGER when I was 36 years old, and looked at the upcoming midlife with a youthful mentality. At that time, I was full of vigor in my heart, often being angry about life and society, and full of doubts about what was worth fighting for and enthusiastic about. LU Xun once said, “Mourn for the unfortunate, angry for the coward”. My life seems to be cursed, and I have to confront a sense of humiliation every day. This mentality contributes to the basic style of my films over the years, and it is the style of a pessimistic life. Which one is more powerful? Hatred or forgiveness?
Basking in the sun in the zoo, the MANCHURIAN TIGER seems to be used to the daily life of being fed by the keepers of beef and live chickens. Does it remember being the king of the forest? Will it still be fierce again? Does it know that it is trapped in here? It is a story of revenge. The process is absurd and comedic, and the story ends with a temporary settlement of hatred. Gray humor. The absurd humor of the cold northeast of China!

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