Return to Dust

Ma Youtie and Cao Guiying are two solitary people in rural north-west China whom their own families have cast aside. An arranged marriage brings them together, and they set about making a life on the edge of the desert, working the land and raising what they need to get by. What begins as a practical arrangement slowly turns into genuine affection as the pair face hardship and the changes overtaking country life around them.

Return to Dust was released in 2022 and runs 133 minutes. Li Ruijun wrote and directed it, with Zhang Yibai, Zhang Min and Hong Qin producing for Alibaba Pictures Group, China Film Co-Production Corporation, Aranya Pictures and Beijing J.Q. Spring Pictures. Wu Renlin plays Ma Youtie and Hai Qing plays Cao Guiying, alongside Yang Guangrui, Dengfeng Zhao, Cailan Wang and Jiangui Zeng.

The film drew an 8/10 average from 28 critics' reviews, while audiences rated it 7.6/10 on IMDb from around 3,000 votes and 7.3/10 on TMDB from roughly 210 votes. The critical score sits above both audience scores, and the gap between the two audience figures reflects how much larger the IMDb sample is. For Li, the film follows the features he had directed over the preceding years and brought his work on rural Gansu to a wider audience.