X
  • 2023
  • ARP Sélection
  • 2 h 11 m
  • 2023
  • ARP Sélection
  • 2 h 11 m
Return to Dust

Summary In rural Gaotai county, two lonely, middle-aged outcasts are pushed into an arranged marriage by their families. Ma (Wu Renlin) is a humble farmer with little to offer his timid and sickly wife, Cao (Hai Qing), except for a small abandoned house on a barren patch of land. From just a few seeds, their newly planted crops take root and flo...

Directed By: Ruijun Li

Written By: Ruijun Li

  • 2023
  • ARP Sélection
  • 2 h 11 m
  • 2023
  • ARP Sélection
  • 2 h 11 m

Return to Dust

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
79
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary In rural Gaotai county, two lonely, middle-aged outcasts are pushed into an arranged marriage by their families. Ma (Wu Renlin) is a humble farmer with little to offer his timid and sickly wife, Cao (Hai Qing), except for a small abandoned house on a barren patch of land. From just a few seeds, their newly planted crops take root and flo...

Directed By: Ruijun Li

Written By: Ruijun Li

Where to Watch

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
79
100% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
79
100% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Jul 21, 2023
The stoical, quiet, affecting beast of burden in Li Ruijun’s much-admired drama is emblematic of the film’s larger appeal.
By Tara Brady FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 21, 2023
A later-life love story of the gentlest kind, Li Ruijun’s Return to Dust is an absorbing, beautifully framed drama that makes a virtue — possibly too much a virtue — of simplicity.
By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 21, 2023
It packs a quiet emotional punch.
By John Berra FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 21, 2023
It’s a gorgeous, quietly affecting film that finds an unassuming beauty in this simple life in rural China, but which doesn’t shy away from the extreme hardships faced by the very poorest.
By Wendy Ide FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 20, 2023
China’s leadership has a history of suppressing art that spotlights the failings of its ruling class and ideology, which is exactly what Li’s film does, with a script that feels only occasionally overwritten. That he succeeds without making it feel like homework — which is to say beautifully, humanely — is presumably what made the film so threatening.
By Austin Considine FULL REVIEW
75
Jul 21, 2023
Return to Dust abounds in small poetic touches from the director and his lead characters.
By Glenn Kenny FULL REVIEW
70
Jul 21, 2023
Despite these subtle barbs, Return to Dust ends up as an elegiac love story as the unlikely couple form a bond built on a foundation of total understanding and empathy.
By David Jenkins FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Alibaba Pictures Group, Aranya Pictures, Beijing J.Q. Spring Pictures, Beijing Showcase Culture Media, Dream Media, Gansu Qizi Culture & Media, Han Zhou Qinzizai, Hucheng No.7 Films, Qizi Films, Shanghai Shigu Film, Such A Good Film
Release Date Jul 21, 2023
Duration 2 h 11 m
Genres
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Awards

Guangzhou Student Film Festival
• 4 Nominations
To Ten Chinese Films Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Udine Far East Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations

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