Return to Dust (2022) on Netflix
Ma Youtie, a farmer, and Cao Guiying, a disabled woman her family has mistreated, are pushed into an arranged marriage in rural Gansu. They farm with their donkey and build a home.
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- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.6/103,141 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
In rural Gansu, Cao Guiying is disabled, incontinent and unable to have children, and she has passed the age at which village women are expected to marry. Her family has mistreated her. Ma Youtie is a middle-aged farmer with little money who lives simply. Their families arrange a marriage between them, and the two begin farming with their donkey and gradually grow closer. The village holds many empty houses, and the couple move into one of the unoccupied properties. When its owner returns from Shenzhen, drawn by a government payment for demolishing poorly built empty houses, they move again, then decide to build their own homestead from mud bricks they make themselves and wooden posts salvaged from demolished buildings.
Cast
- Dengfeng Zhaoas Ma Youtong
- Cailan Wangas Sister-in-Law
- Jiangui Zengas Ma Youtong's Eldest Son
- Wu Yunzhias Ma Youtong's Second Son
- Zhanhong Maas Brother Guiying
- Cuilan Wangas Guiying's Sister-in-Law
- Caixia Xuas Ma Hongmei
- Shengfu Lias Village Chief
- Min Zhangas Clothes Stall Owner
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Return to Dust (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Return to Dust was pulled from streaming services in China on 26 September 2022, with Radio Free Asia reporting that mention of it on Weibo had been banned, while the South China Morning Post later reported that discussion was not prohibited but the reason for removal was never made clear.
- To make Return to Dust, the cast and crew lived in a remote town in northwest Gansu, and Hai Qing, an acclaimed Chinese film star, shared quarters with Wu Renlin, a local farmer and untrained actor; she learned the local dialect, farm skills and helped build the mud brick house.
