Underplayed Gems

God Man Dog (2007)

God Man Dog poster
Original title
流浪神狗人
Directed by
Singing Chen
Genre
drama film
Country
Taiwan
Runtime
1h 59m
Rating
5.8 of 10 from 5 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Three sets of people from different social classes in Taiwan have their lives occasionally cross. A middle-class couple, an indigenous family, and a handicapped man who rescues discarded religious statues each face trials brought on by consumer society.

thoughtfulbittersweetobservationalgently pacedsocially awarepoignantcontemplativesadinterconnected

What happens

God Man Dog is a 2007 Taiwanese road movie directed by director Singing Chen, starring Jack Kao, Tarcy Su, Chang Han and Jonathan Chang. It depicts the occasionally intertwining lives of three groups of characters of different social backgrounds to provide a comprehensive picture of the contemporary society of Taiwan. God Man Dog has received widespread acclaim since its release and has participated in various international film festivals, including the Golden Horse Awards, Busan International Film Festival, and the Youth Forum section of the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. It was nominated for three major awards, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction, at the 44th Golden Horse Awards. The three groups of characters in the film belong to three distinct social classes, a middle-class couple, an indigenous family, and a handicapped man, who rescues discarded divine statuettes of all sorts. The film portrays how they experience varying trials and pains due to the material or spiritual deficiencies caused by consumerism, and develop drastically different attitudes towards life, which in a way reflects Singing Chen’s observations and thoughts on contemporary Taiwan. The Chinese title of the film expresses the notion that gods and humans are no different from stray dogs in the consumerist era, while its English title employs a rhetorical device of palindrome, where the beginning of the title "God" is the reverse of the end "Dog," and vice versa. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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