Latest news with #LongDay'sJourneyIntoNight
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Resurrection' Review: Bi Gan's Extravagant Act of Surrender to the Seductions of a Century of Cinema
Do you remember when we used to watch movies with the undivided attention we give to our dreams? Bi Gan, the Chinese director behind 2018's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' sure does. And so, seven years later, his return — or his 'Resurrection' — arrives: a marvelously maximalist movie of opulent ambition that is actually five or six movies, each at once playful and peculiar and part of an overarchingly melancholy elegy for the dream of 20th-century cinema and the lives we lived within it. It is, of course, a paradox to make a film that requires of the viewer the exact spirit of guileless abandon whose disappearance it is built to mourn. But then every moment of 'Resurrection' exists on the pivot of a paradox, all of which have their origin in a fundamentally paradoxical premise: a near-future (which is maybe just a curt appraisal of our post-pandemic present) in which dreams are cinema and cinema is dreams, which is bad news for both because nobody dreams anymore. More from Variety 'The Party's Over' Review: South of France-Set Satire Follows an Escalating Class Conflict Cannes Directors' Fortnight: 'The President's Cake,' Iraq's First Film at the Festival, Wins People's Choice Audience Award Cannes Directors' Fortnight: Valéry Carnoy's 'Wild Foxes' Wins Best European Film Prize Silent movie-style intertitles explain the almost comically unwieldy sci-fi basis, part 'Stalker,' a dash of 'Blade Runner,' all crazy, so here goes: Humankind has discovered the key to longevity is to stop dreaming – the analogy, that becomes one of the many motifs, is of a wax candle that can last forever if it is never lit. But there are some dissenters who would prefer to burn through shorter, brighter lives. Bi Gan, co-writing with Bai Xue, dubs these willful dreamers 'Fantasmers,' and explains how dangerous they are, how they 'bring chaos to history' and 'make time jump.' And so there are other individuals, called 'Big Others' who are gifted with the power to tell illusion from reality, and are sent to find the Fantasmers, who are holed up in their imaginary movie worlds, and to preserve the linearity of time by waking them up. From the start, we are inside these nesting dream-state stories, each corresponding to a different, successive era of cinema, and each one also corresponding to one of the five senses. The silent-cinema-aping, sight-related first section functions as an introduction to the Fantasmer, played by Jackson Yee in all five of the character's different incarnations, and his pursuing Big Other played by Shu Qi, resplendent in a high-necked silk blouse of a color that, after Tang Wei's dress in 'Long Day's Journey' should hereafter be dubbed 'Bi Gan green.' This section is also the most exquisite showcase of Liu Qiang and Tu Nan's baroquely ornamented production design, as this time the Fantasmer is an outright movie monster, a kind of Nosferatu-meets-Quasimodo, and the world he is hiding in is like an ornate dollhouse diorama of a chinese opium den, complete with stop-motion wood-cut puppets in the background. But turning a corner, it is now a German expressionist maze of canted angles and shadows, through which Shu Qi dances like Moira Shearer in 'The Red Shoes,' while the 'Vertigo' love theme — or a stretch of M83's bravura, chameleonic score that sounds incredibly like it — creates an obsessive romance between the monster and the woman sent to kill him. Catch him she does, but as she tells us, suddenly in voiceover, she is moved by his commitment to his dream life and though she cannot change his destiny, she wishes to give him a gentle death. So she cracks him open and sets a projector device whirring inside him, which causes the Fantasmer to resurface as a handsome young man in a wartime spy noir — all fedoras and train stations and 'Lady From Shanghai' mirror shoot-outs — where he stands accused of murdering a man (Yan Nan) by stabbing him in the ear with a fountain pen. While this hearing-focused segment may be the least self-containedly coherent, it is as always elevated by some remarkable imagery: Sheet music flutters; a bomb shatters the roof of the train station; a pair of bloodied hands work a theremin. Wax melts. The Big Other muses. The Fantasmer shows up 30 years later as a worker abandoned in a ruined Buddhist temple, where he encounters the Spirit of Bitterness (Chen Yongzhong), who has been hiding in his rotten tooth, in a loosely taste-based fable that plays like a Chinese folk tale of trickster deities pranking a hapless victim. And then, 20 years later again, the Fantasmer is a rapscallion father-figure to a young girl (Guo Mucheng), whom he trains to fake a supernatural ability to 'smell' the correct chosen playing card from a deck. And finally, it is New Years Eve, 1999, and the Fantasmer is a callow young bleached-blond hoodlum who has never kissed a girl, and the girl (Li Gengxi) is a bewitching creature in half-moon sunglasses and high-top Converse straight from a '90s Wong Kar-wai movie, who has perhaps kissed plenty of guys, but who has never bitten anybody. Unfolding in a 40-minute long unbroken take, and taking in fistfights and shootouts and entire karaoke numbers, this segment does not have quite the same transportative levitating grace of the equivalent hair-raisingly transcendent 3D section of 'Long Day's Journey,' but it amazes in different ways. Like when the filter changes from red to blue as a window shatters or when Dong Jingsong's miraculously mobile camera stills for a spell to observe a street party in which time-lapse people move in rapid fast-motion while a silent movie plays at normal speed in the background. Other than the trickery of time and subjectivity (and the occasional suitcase), there is little carried over from one story to the next. But with each structured as some sort of pursuit — of a murderer, of enlightenment, of a big score, of a girl — and all contained within the broader context of the Big Other's pursuit of the Fantasmer, 'Resurrection' even at its most obscure is easy to parse as a long game of chase through allusions both lofty and lowbrow, from the high art of many of its influences all the way down to the inclusion of a riddle whose solution is 'a fart.' During the pandemic, which was when Bi Gan began to entirely reconceive the film that would become 'Resurrection,' one of the more curious side-effects of sudden isolation was the widespread epidemic of unusually vivid dreams. At the same time, the old-model cinema Bi Gan so loves is being assailed by myriad developments in technology and viewing habits, as our ability — or even desire — to immerse ourselves in art has become ever more stunted. In Bi Gan's worldview, this is an occasion for sorrow, as there is something inexpressibly beautiful about the sensorial illusion of cinema, and something inexpressibly noble about seeking refuge within it, even if that means removing yourself from reality where things, presumably, get done rather than just dreamt. 'Resurrection,' with all its extraordinarily intricate ambition is hardly what you could call a manifesto, and it will undoubtedly challenge viewers who have been trained to expect simpler structures, but for those who miss the way the movies used to act on us, it does offer up a uniquely pleasurable challenge, and a dazzlingly cineliterate lesson in the lost art of letting go. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Resurrection' Brings Bi Gan Back to Cannes With a ‘Movie Monster' That Showcases a Century of Cinema: ‘A Celebration of Life on This Earth' (EXCLUSIVE)
Chinese auteur Bi Gan is back at Cannes with competition title 'Resurrection,' a six-part fever dream where movie monsters roam and dreams are extinct. 'I wanted to break down the spirit world into six elements,' Bi tells Variety, describing how 'Resurrection' unleashes a 'movie monster' that showcases a century of cinema history. These six elements — the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) and the mind — provide the framework for the film's labyrinthine chapters. The film is his first feature since the landmark 3D experiment 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' stunned festivals in 2018. More from Variety Films Boutique Delivers 'The President's Cake' to Multiple Territories After Cannes Premiere (EXCLUSIVE) Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut 'Eleanor the Great' Lands 5-Minute Cannes Ovation as She Praises Star June Squibb as 'Truly Inspiring' 'Eleanor the Great' Review: Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut Is an Unconvincing Crowd-Pleaser, With June Squibb Doing Brash Shtick In 'Resurrection,' starring Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huang Jue and Chen Yongzhong, humanity has lost the ability to dream, with only one creature still entranced by fading illusions of the dreamworld. When a woman with the rare power to perceive these illusions appears, she chooses to enter the monster's dreams, determined to uncover hidden truths within. Bi burst onto the international film scene with his 2015 debut 'Kaili Blues,' which won best emerging director at Locarno and established his reputation for dreamy, poetic cinema featuring long takes. 'Screens are getting smaller and smaller, and I really want to bring back, or at least re-educate the audience to understand the old feeling of watching cinema again,' Bi explains. 'When you watch the first story, it's set in the 1900s — it's almost like a prequel, and it's shot in a way that respects that type of cinema.' Particularly notable is the film's nod to German expressionism, with the director using a 'movie monster' character to showcase different historical periods of cinema. 'The sixth story is closest to a modern movie as possible,' Bi notes. 'One of the actors is actually a very old actress who shot films back in the day. Having her in the most modern section allows the story to be a cycle of sorts, because it reminds you back to the beginning of the celebration of cinema.' This structural approach represents a dramatic evolution from 'Long Day's Journey Into Night,' which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and became an arthouse sensation with its audacious second half — an unbroken 59-minute sequence shot in 3D, requiring audience members to put on 3D glasses midway through the screening. That technical achievement, coupled with the film's hypnotic narrative about memory and lost love, cemented Bi's status as a major voice in contemporary cinema. When asked about the thematic core of 'Resurrection,' Bi says, 'As a director, everybody comes with their own version of their personal life. This film really does represent a level of my life and my energy, and the interaction of people in my environment. Even though it celebrates 100 years of cinema, it is also a celebration of life on this earth for me, and the energy that people have within each other, within a community, within the space that they are all in.' The film's Chinese title, 'Kuang Ye Shi Dai' (translating roughly to 'wild era' or 'savage age'), differs from its English title — a pattern in Bi's filmography. 'All of my films have had different meanings in the Chinese version versus the English one. I've always had that habit. But when you watch the film, it all makes sense at the end,' the director explains. Working with his cast required different approaches. For veteran actor Shu Qi, Bi found her intuition made direction fluid: 'Shu Qi has an extremely high ability to go with the flow and a strong sense of expression. When I would talk to her, I might say, 'This scene is like dancing,' and she understands that thought process without having it spelled out — she's very intuitive.' For younger star Jackson Yee, who 'has this energy and spirit,' Bi took a more specific approach. 'I would talk to him about feelings and movies, and be a little bit more specific about how things would play out. I would give him my thoughts, and he would take those notes and perform.' As the film premieres in Cannes' main competition — marking Bi's first appearance in the festival's top tier — he acknowledges potential challenges for global audiences. 'Because audiences don't understand my internal world and don't live in the areas I exist in, there will be a difference, a distance between their understanding of the film and my experience with it,' he says. 'But what I want them to experience is the beauty of the film and the experience of sitting in a cinema watching it. Everybody that goes to watch my films, they are almost like the movie monster in the film — we are all part of the same ecosystem that I'm bringing through this movie.' Despite the seven-year gap since his last feature, Bi confirms new projects are already taking shape. 'I feel like I've rested enough during these seven years. Now that this film is out, I will be preparing something within the next year or so,' he reveals. 'I had an idea of what the topic will be while editing this movie, but I won't tell you — the seed of it exists, and I'm going to spend some time to develop it.' The director adds: 'Every time I make a new film, I make a mandate: 'The next one will be simpler.' The approach to this film was supposed to be simple — a six-part movie — and then the more I shot, the more complicated it got. I'm promising myself, or trying to promise myself, that this next film is going to be simpler to make.' 'Resurrection' is produced by Dangmai Films (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Huace Film Co., Ltd., in association with France's CG Cinema. Les Films du Losange is handling international sales. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Festival Favorite Bi Gan Mentored the Dreamy Berlin Coming-of-Age Premiere ‘The Botanist' to Bloom: Watch the Teaser
One of IndieWire's favorite films of 2019 was 'Long Day's Journey Into Night,' Chinese director Bi Gan's genre-bending epic that used 3D and more formally twisting conceits to tell a story of romantic longing and a tryst that leads to a disappearance. While between films, Bi, who is rumored to have his much-anticipated third feature 'Resurrection' premiere at Cannes this year, ended up mentoring a young budding director for their own woozily dreamy portrait, 'The Botanist.' Jing Yi's new film premieres at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival in the Generation Kplus section, and IndieWire shares an exclusive first look below. Here's the synopsis, per the Berlinale's official website: 'In a village in a remote valley on the northern border of Xinjiang, China, a lonely Kazakh boy named Arsin nurses fading memories of his family. He finds solace in the company of plants. The arrival of Meiyu, a Han Chinese girl, is like the discovery of a plant he has never seen before, bringing him comfort and a strange sense of wonder. Together, they grow like two distinct species, rooted in a shared corner of the world, imagining the valley as an endless ocean. But one day, Arsin learns that Meiyu will be moving to Shanghai, which is 4,792 kilometres away – a distance he struggles to comprehend. She is headed to a city where the ocean actually exists. Arsin is left alone to grapple with the quiet shifts in their small, fragile world.' More from IndieWire 'No Other Land' Is Nominated for an Oscar, but in Masafer Yatta, We're Still Being Erased - Opinion How the Editing of 'Conclave' Gives Its Cardinal All the Clues Jing Yi, born in 1994 and raised in Xinjiang, is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy. His debut feature film 'The Botanist' was selected as an official project at the Asian Project Market 2023, where it won the New Horse Award. The film also received post-production funding from the Doha Film Institute Grants Programme 2024 Spring session. 'The Botanist' premieres on Saturday, February 15. Here's the teaser. Magnify is handling worldwide sales rights. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Big screen talent announced for Glasgow Film Festival 2025
A raft of big screen stars and famous favourites are set to tread the red carpet for the 21st edition of Glasgow Film Festival (GFF). Pulp Fiction star Tim Roth, Japanese model, musician and actor Kōki, Shogun star Takehiro Hira and Edinburgh director John Maclean will attend the World premiere of their hotly-anticipated survival thriller Tornado, which will open Glasgow Film Festival 2025 on February 26. Hollywood legends Ed Harris and Jessica Lange will also attend the UK premiere of Long Day's Journey Into Night, the new big screen adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's seminal American play, on February 28. Jessica Lange will also appear in a special In Conversation event on March 1, reflecting on her six decade-long screen career, from King Kong and Tootsie to Rob Roy and American Horror Story. READ MORE: Glasgow Film Festival unveils programme for its 21st edition 'Huge new feature film' to shoot in the Highlands this summer Homegrown film star James McAvoy will introduce a special screening of his breakthrough role in Kevin McDonald's compelling fiction debut The Last King of Scotland (2006), following his sold out In Conversation event (March 2). Scottish stars Martin Compston, James Cosmo and Solly McLeod will attend the World premiere of the first episode of new Amazon Studios-produced thriller Fear (February 27), shot in Glasgow's West End; and Glasgow-born actor James McArdle will attend the Scottish premiere of his new rom-com Four Mothers (3 March). GFF favourite George MacKay returns with the Scottish premiere of the post-apocalyptic musical The End (March 4) and Icelandic singer-songwriter Emiliana Torrini along with directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard will attend the Scottish premiere of the vibrant performance film The Extraordinary Miss Flower (March 1), based on a real-life treasure trove of hidden love letters. Hollywood legends Ed Harris and Jessica Lange will also attend the UK premiere of Long Day's Journey Into Night (Image: GFF) Behind-the-camera talent visiting the festival includes Athina Rachel Tsangari with the Scottish premiere of her Scottish folk horror Harvest (March 2), shot entirely on location in Argyllshire, The Greasy Strangler auteur Jim Hosking at the UK premiere of his new feature Ebony & Ivory (March 5), Edinburgh-based filmmaker Laura Carreira at the Scottish premiere of her Edinburgh and Glasgow-shot drama On Falling (February 28) and The Return director Uberto Pasolini (March 9). This year's country focus - Austria - is represented by director Bernhard Wenger, who will attend the UK premiere of his absurdist comedy Peacock (March 2) and filmmakers Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann will attend the UK premiere of their bloodthirsty social satire Veni Vedi Vici (March 8). Glasgow Film Festival will run at Glasgow Film Theatre and venues across the city from February 26 to March 9, with a programme boasting 13 World and European premieres, 66 UK premieres and 12 Scottish premieres from 38 countries.
