Resurrection 狂野时代 Review: Bi Gan’s Epic Tribute to Cinema Boasts Stunning Visuals
Seven years after enduring Long Day’s Journey into Night, I wonder if Bi Gan’s Resurrection is going to be another test of patience amidst the mesmerising visuals. Besides, his latest feature clocked in at a whopping 160 minutes, making it the auteur’s longest movie to date. The story unfolds in six chapters, vignette-style storytelling as Gan, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Zhai Xiaohui, begins with an opening stretch that pays homage to silent films. The earlier segment fully embraces the visual and narrative aesthetics, complete with intertitles, while incorporating the prominent use of German expressionism populated by Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau — think high-contrast lighting and stark shadows.
It is here we first met Shu Qi’s The Big Other, looking radiant in a teal silk blouse while holding a vintage camera. She also serves as the movie’s narrator every now and then, as we learn that The Big Other is pursuing a pale-faced figure called the Deliriant (Jackson Yee, in heavy makeup), who looks like he’s straight out of a certain F.W. Murnau’s movie. This figure in question is like a physical manifestation of dream reality, capable of shapeshifting through various reincarnations across different timelines.
If the existence of The Big Other and Deliriant sounds odd, that’s because the premise itself is positioned as a sci-fi narrative where humanity can no longer dream but is granted immortality. Deliriant is seen as a rarity who can dream. Gan does a great job immersing me into the story’s surreal world right from the get-go, using a wealth of cinematic language that defines each style, tone, and genre across the chapters. This is like a dream come true for cinephiles, especially with Gan slipping in references after references as the movie progresses.
Visuals play a big part in Resurrection, where colours shift, and the filmmaking style is deliberately varied according to the chapter’s themes and its respective era. For instance, the second chapter is dedicated to the atmospheric 1940s noir, which has the distinct feel and look of an Orson Welles film, and speaking of the late great filmmaker and actor, Gan even includes the visual and thematic nods inspired by the famous hall-of-mirrors scene from The Lady from Shanghai.
The homage itself has been a recurring motif across plenty of movies ever since, one of which includes Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai’s Mad Detective. The aforementioned chapter also showcases Gan’s genre know-how in effectively blending in the political paranoia dressed in a wartime espionage style, with Mark Chao showing up as an investigator in charge of retrieving a mysterious suitcase, which serves as a MacGuffin.
Resurrection somehow slows down considerably to make way for the minimalist chamber piece focusing predominantly on two men, while favouring a meditative dialogue-heavy approach that indirectly serves as a lull after the promising earlier chapters. The pace comes back to life during the decades-later segment revolving around a con thief (Jackson Yee, again) who takes the orphan girl under his wing.
Bi Gan saves the best for the last during the spellbinding half-hour stretch shot in a long and seamless, unbroken take as the 1999 chapter takes place during New Year’s Eve, where the camera follows a blonde thug named Apollo (Yee) and a young girl, played by Li Gengxi. The entire segment here feels like it’s lifted from a contemporary Wong Kar-Wai movie shot during the ’90s era, notably Fallen Angels starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Michelle Reis.
Here, the colour significantly alternates between the red-tinged background and the moody blue aesthetic. It’s a visual sight to behold from the outdoor setting to the dark alley and into the crowded nightclub, among other locations seen throughout the long-take segment. Resurrection is no doubt a technical triumph, with kudos going to Gan’s cinematic immersions inspired by different filmmakers and its multiple era-defining genres. The story itself isn’t exactly Gan’s strongest suit despite his attempt to intertwine the metaphorical contexts encompassing themes of memory, rebirth, time, death and nostalgia. But such a shortcoming doesn’t deter me from appreciating Bi Gan’s latest movie, easily his most ambitious undertaking after just four movies in his filmography.
