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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 8.Mar.26

Resurrection
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir-scr Bi Gan
prd Charles Gillibert, Yang Lele, Shan Zuolong
with Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huang Jue, Chen Yongzhong, Zhang Zhijian, Guo Mucheng, Chloe Maayan, Nan Yan, Bi Yanmin, Chen Guohua
release Chn 22.Nov.25,
US 12.Dec.25, UK 13.Mar.26
25/China 2h40

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Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan ambitiously takes on an entire century in this epic odyssey, which holds the interest over a long running time because it's essentially four shorter movies with a framing story. While several elements are incomprehensible, the imagery and characters are consistently fascinating, and the surreal narrative flourishes catch the imagination. It should also be noted that the original Chinese title translates as Wild Times.

After humanity has given up dreaming for longevity, a woman (Shu) finds a hideous "Deliriant" (Yee) who uses movies to maintain his imagination. In 1930s-style, the Deliriant is Qiu, questioned about murder by a distracted police commander (Chao). Two decades later, the Deliriant is a monk guiding looters to an abandoned temple, where he releases a familiar-looking spirit (Chen). After another 10 years, he's scam artist Jia, using an orphan girl (Guo) to con an old man (Shang). And on New Year's Eve 1999, the Deliriant is young Apollo, who falls for a mysterious girl (Li).

Each section is shot in a distinctive visual style, with the framing story told using silent movie imagery, including gothic sets and dialog on title cards. Aspect ratios and film stocks shift along with sets, costumes and lighting. And the bravura New Year's Eve section is told in a fiendishly inventive continuous take that races through streets and buildings, then includes a vivid time-lapse moment. It's visually dazzling so, even if the narrative remains out of reach, the swirling ideas are haunting.

Performances also change styles to match the cinematic era. Yee's work is particularly astonishing, as he transforms his body and attitude for each incarnation. Along the way, he finds offbeat connections with other characters, evoking big emotions that range from crippling pain to warm affection and bristling lust. There's a nice complexity in the bonkers rollercoaster between Apollo and Li's feisty mystery girl. And the sequence with young Guo is the most engaging, as it carries both brittle humour and underlying grief.

Because the filmmaker is so deliberately assembling this as a love letter to cinema itself, it often feels like an academic project, echoing a wide range of images, techniques and textures to evoke a hundred years of movie history. What it's missing is a solid through-line that we can grab hold of. Still, we marvel at the audacious way everything is shot and played, and there are emotional kicks along the way that linger.

themes, language, violence 28.Feb.26

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL