Mid-Afternoon Barks is a surrealist triptych of stories that take place in Beijing, all involving the installation of electrical poles.

For one critic, Mid-Afternoon Barks was "a distinctive debut that doesn't quite resemble any other Chinese pic out there," and a film that had an "absurdist perspective.

[3] The film's soundtrack is equally bizarre, incorporating seemingly random noises (including titular barking) whose sources are never revealed.

[1] Variety's Derek Elley wrote how, "the enchanting score by Xiao He... brims with strange, percussive sounds and accompanies the sharply edited scenes (often punctuated by brief blackouts)..."[3] The release of Mid-Afternoon Barks announced a new voice in Chinese cinema.

[4] Time Out's David Jenkins wrote that the film, while requiring a tremendous amount of patience from the audience, was nevertheless a "dreamy, lyrical, and often baffling journey.