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Return to Dust
Official poster
Traditional Chinese	隱入塵煙
Simplified Chinese	隐入尘烟
Literal meaning	Hidden in the Smoke
Hanyu Pinyin	Yǐn rù chényān
Directed by	Li Ruijun
Written by	Li Ruijun
Produced by	Zhang Min Li Yan
Starring	Wu Renlin Hai Qing
Cinematography	Wang Weihua
Edited by	Li Ruijun
Music by	Peyman Yazdanian
Production company	Hucheng No.7 Films
Release dates	February 2022 (2022-02) (Berlinale) 8 July 2022 (2022-07-08) (China)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	China
Language	Rural Gansu dialect of Mandarin Chinese
Box office	$866,836

Return to Dust (Chinese: 隐入尘烟; pinyin: Yǐn rù chényān) is a Chinese drama film written and directed by Li Ruijun. It had its world premiere at the 2022 Berlinale. The film, which runs to 133 minutes, is mainly spoken in a rural Gansu dialect. It premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, in August 2022, and saw a general release in November. As of September 2022, it had grossed 100 million yuan (US$14 million) at the box office, on a budget of 2 million yuan.

Return to Dust was pulled from streaming services in China on 26 September 2022. Western news outlets such as Radio Free Asia reported that mentioning the film on Weibo had been banned. It was later reported by the South China Morning Post that discussion of the film had not been prohibited on Chinese social media, but the reason for its removal from streaming services had not been made clear. Other sources later reported that posts about the film were blocked on Weibo, suggesting that there was a ban on mentioning it. Prior to its recall, a version of the film with an alternative ending was available.

Synopsis

The story follows the lives of Ma Youtie and Cao Guiying in rural Gansu throughout the year of 2011. Guiying is a disabled, incontinent, and infertile middle-aged woman who has been mistreated by her family, and is past the normal age by which women are normally expected to be married in rural China. Youtie is a middle-aged poor farmer who lives a simple life. Their families arrange for the two to marry, and the couple gradually develops an emotional closeness and tenderness. They lead a simple life, farming with their donkey. There are many empty properties in their village, and they move into one of them.

However, the owner, who had migrated to Shenzhen in search of work, unexpectedly returns after finding out about a government incentive granting substantial cash payment to homeowners who allow their poorly built and unoccupied houses to be demolished. Youtie and Guiying move to another unoccupied property, before they decide to build their own homestead. They use mud bricks that they make themselves, and old wooden posts salvaged from previous demolitions.

In the meantime, a powerful local businessman requires blood transfusions. Youtie is told that he shares the same rare blood type and is frequently called to donate blood to save the businessman's life. In return for his donations, the businessman's wealthy family offers Youtie cheap gifts, which he only accepts as borrowed items. Youtie's brother suggests he and Guiying should move into a new apartment in a high-rise public housing building, but the couple find it impractical, because the apartment cannot house their farm animals.

Guiying becomes ill, and Youtie tells her to rest while he goes out to work. He is later shown passing a group of locals sitting unconcernedly by the irrigation canal. They tell him that Guiying had been looking for him to give him some food, but that she felt dizzy and fell into the water and drowned. Youtie is devastated and jumps into the canal to retrieve his wife's body.

Youtie quietly finishes his harvest in the coming days, then frees his faithful, hard-working donkey and sells all his possessions to settle his debts, keeping nothing aside as he would normally do for the coming season's planting. Even in this final transaction, Youtie is cheated by the buyer, who forces him to round down the price "to make the bookkeeping easier". When preparing Guiying's body for burial, Youtie presses some grains of corn to make a mark on her hand. In an earlier scene, Youtie had explained that he felt he could always feel close to her through this mark. Youtie takes some food and lies down, specially positioning his head at the side of the bed to be near to some smouldering charcoal. His body shakes uncontrollably. There is no clear evidence, but it is implied that he might have committed suicide. His few remaining belongings are shown being taken away in a handcart, while payment is made from a government official to Youtie's brother for permission to demolish the house that Youtie and Guiying had built and where they had lived happily for a brief period of time. The donkey is shown as having returned to the house by himself, but is ignored, unwanted by anyone.

The film became a target for China's censors, and some changes were imposed upon the ending. In his last scene, Youtie is not shown drinking poison, but a bottle is shown on the altar that he has made for Guiying. In the film's final scene, when the house is being demolished, one character says that Youtie will now be moving to his new apartment in the city, even though this makes little sense in the context of the previous scene, where it is implied that Youtie had died. Before the film was removed from streaming platforms in China, the revised version added a line of text at this point, before the credits begin, stating (in Chinese): "Ma Youtie moved to his new home in the winter of 2011 and started his new life with the help of the government and the warm-hearted villagers."

Government censorship

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Return to Dust" film – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The film was released in July 2022 in China, and by the first week of September, it ranked as the most successful film in cinemas, having been seen by close to 1.5 million viewers. Two weeks later, the film was removed from cinemas and Chinese streaming platforms. No explanation was provided by the government on the removal, and observers were left to speculate on the cause of the censorship. The success of the film was unexpected for a low-budget production. The film did not present any criticism of the Chinese political regime, but Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei described the censorship as predictable.

Cast and crew

Production

In order to make the film, the cast and crew had to live in a remote town in the northwest of Gansu. Hai Qing, who is an acclaimed film star in China, actually lived with Wu Renlin, who is a local farmer and an untrained actor. Qing was taught the skills required to be a farmer and participated in the mud brick house building. She also learned the local dialect.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 95%, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. Jessica Kiang of Variety described the film as "an absorbing, beautifully framed drama that makes a virtue — possibly too much a virtue — of simplicity." Anna Smith of Deadline Hollywood said of the film, " isn’t always an easy watch, but it’s a thought-provoking one with beautifully judged performances that radiate warmth and encourage empathy. It marks Li Ruijun as a significant cinematic talent."

Accolades

References

1. "Return to Dust (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
2. ^ "Yin Ru Chen Yan | Return to Dust". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
3. "Return to Dust". www.fareastfilm.com (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2022.
4. Devine, Paul (21 July 2022). "Edinburgh Film Festival to Give Drama Return too Dust UK Premiere –". Retrieved 29 August 2022.
5. "Return to Dust (2022) Awards & Festivals". mubi.com. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
6. ^ "A top-grossing film was pulled in China. No one knows why". South China Morning Post. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
7. Novak, Matt (27 September 2022). "What been When China Makes a Popular Homegrown Movie Disappear?". Gizmodo.
8. "Rural love story hit movie 'Return to Dust' banned in China ahead of party congress?". Radio Free Asia. 27 September 2022.
9. "Return to Dust, Chinese hit film about rural hardships, disappears from streaming platforms". the Guardian. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
10. Liu, Jin (27 March 2023). "Film Review: "China's Last Peasant in Return to Dust (2022)"". China Currents. 22 (1). Retrieved 10 April 2023.
11. ^ "A film about rural outcasts made waves in China". The Economist. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
12. Kiang, Jessica (14 February 2022). "'Return to Dust' Review: A Compassionate but Cautious Chinese Drama of Rural Lives Ennobled by Sacrifice". Variety. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
13. Zhang, Stanly; Ewe, Koh (21 September 2022). "This Sleeper Hit Offers a Glimpse of a Forgotten Rural China". Vice. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
14. Leigh, Danny (26 October 2022). "Hit film Return to Dust has vanished from China's cinemas. Why?". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
15. Tone, Sixth (8 July 2022). "'Return to Dust': The Chinese Film Pushing Realism to New Extremes". SixthTone. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
16. "Return to Dust". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
17. Kiang, Jessica (13 February 2022). "'Return to Dust' Review: A Compassionate but Cautious Chinese Drama of Rural Lives Ennobled by Sacrifice". Variety. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
18. Smith, Anna (13 February 2022). "Berlin Review: Li Ruijun's 'Return to Dust'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
19. Lodge, Guy (16 February 2022). "Spanish Drama 'Alcarràs' Wins Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival". Variety.
20. "El chino Li Ruijun, galardonado con la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci con 'Return to Dust'". rtve.es. 29 October 2022.

External links

• Return to Dust at IMDb

• 2022 films
• 2022 drama films
• 2020s Mandarin-language films
• Chinese drama films
• Films directed by Li Ruijun
• Films about farmers
• Films set in Gansu
• Films shot in Gansu
• Films scored by Peyman Yazdanian