Two years before Cathy Yan was welcomed under the tentpole for the Suicide Squad spin-off Birds of Prey in 2020, she displayed her origin...
Two years before Cathy Yan was welcomed under the tentpole for the Suicide Squad spin-off Birds of Prey in 2020, she displayed her original voice in Dead Pigs. The Chinese-language movie has finally emerged on the Mubi streaming platform. Set in Shanghai and the neighbouring Jiaxing town, the seriocomic drama examines themes of aspiration, materialism, gentrification, forced displacement and inequality – which have the potential to resonate strongly with Indian audiences.
The most vivid among the handful of leading characters is Candy (Vivian Wu), a no-nonsense bundle of independence and rootedness. The average workday at Candy’s beauty salon begins with a pep talk that includes the rousing slogans “I am the best! I am talented! I am unique! I will succeed!”
Yet, Candy is no conformist, choosing to be the last holdout against a massive housing complex in Jiaxing.
This makeover queen is the only genuine article in a film spilling over with people who want to escape their limitations and realities. These include the promoters of the housing project, which is modelled on a Spanish cathedral, Candy’s hopeless brother Wang (Haoyu Yang), who stumbles from one failure to the next, and his son Wang Zhen (Mason Lee), who is pretending to be wealthier than he is.
Sean (David Rysdahl), an American architect...
