A film about rural outcasts made waves in China
Until it was pulled from cinemas
With its modest budget and gritty subject matter, few expected the film “Return to Dust” to become a hit. Chinese cinema, which is heavily censored, tends to be dominated by light-hearted fare and patriotic blockbusters. “Return to Dust” is a complicated love story set in an impoverished bit of countryside. Yet in the first week of September it was one of China’s top-grossing films. Its total box-office earnings have exceeded 110m yuan ($15.8m).
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Forbidden love story”
From the September 17th 2022 edition
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