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A man is interrogated as the prime suspect for a murder. A laborer is haunted by a Buddhist temple spirit. A family is formed through con games. These scenes may seem disjointed, and they form the epically irrational story of Bi Gan’s “Resurrection.”

After the 2018 release of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” the Chinese filmmaker, Gan, returns with an absolute tour de force in his new sci-fi film. Circulated to critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, “Resurrection” released on Dec. 12 in the United States. Imitating 20th-century Chinese film trends, the piece features six short films. The visually intense, narratively complex film left me breathless.

The story follows an inhuman character, known as the Deliriant (Jackson Yee), who is possessed by an opium addiction and traverses various dream adventures encountering the five senses.

In each mini story, Gan chooses a color palette (like blue-purple for noir thriller) that adheres best to the imitated decade-specific genre. Primarily, every iteration jumps nearly 20 years, spanning from the 1920s to the 1990s.

For the early-career filmmaker, Gan’s fourth feature film sets him apart from his peers with narrative and technical maturity.

Gan incorporates the echoes of decades-old Chinese film trends: from noir thriller to folktale, “Paper Moon”-esque con man/child sidekick to tragic-vampire love story. With the Deliriant’s humanizing character arc, the audience encounters every emotional beat from love to joy as well as heartbreak to loss.

Late-19th-century title cards or late-20th-century one-shots pay specific homages to historical movie techniques.

As the films’ first image, title cards set the scene of a sci-fi world where people, called the Other Ones, have become immortal by refusing to dream. They are capable of entering the dreams and hunting the outcast Deliriants who hold onto ephemeral life. The Deliriant’s mortality is represented by a repetitive candle-wax figurine that continuously melts until, like life, its flame flickers out.

With seamless VFX and editing techniques, the feature adds a seamless polish to its surrealist components that blur the line between reality and hallucination — between the dream world and the real world.

Miss Shu (Shu Qi), an Other One, is the intermediary between the Deliriant and his dreams, encountering the inhuman under a trash chute. She provides the Deliriant with a graceful guide into eternal slumber as his incompatibility between both worlds leads to his death. Miss Shu helps him seek refuge in his dreams, which depict a century-long range of fables.

“Resurrection” is a film that positions the Deliriant within his dreams like audiences within the story on screen. As the Deliriant transforms himself within the stories that unfold, he takes on more and more emotions and feelings. Gan masterfully curates the Deliriant’s journey by touching the tenderness of our hearts — what makes us human.

Yet, the film’s most lasting takeaway is Gan’s craftsmanship in creating a specific image from complex scenes down to ordinary moments. While auteurism and the ability to create striking visuals is not the definitive marker of a great film, it layers on top of a brilliant screenplay to settle “Resurrection” as one of the 21st century’s greatest films.

The sixth mini film’s tragedical-vampire romance is its most cinematographical section. Compassing 40 minutes, the final scene is defined by a one-shot take that is dominated by red light in every frame. The Deliriant awakes in a human form on the last day of the 20th century: transforming into a spikey-blonde-haired juvenile.

As the Deliriant meets, falls in love and falls victim to a vampire girl, the backdrop intensifies the blood.

Sitting under the big screen, I was in awe of the absolute mastery of light and color that Gan and cinematographer Dong Jingsong presented on screen.

For a film about film, the stakes were high to show audiences everything that the medium is capable of. But, Gan establishes himself as a master of the craft; he doesn’t simply understand what film can do, he expands upon it.

Although this is a true piece of art and will be revered in film history, it is a shame that this international film will not amass acclaim at this year’s Academy Awards. In each scene, “Resurrection” surpasses every tenet of production to construct an otherworldly cinematic achievement.

While there is an international release, the limited North American theatrical distribution diminishes the mainstream attention that “Resurrection” deserves. Plus, unfamiliar audiences are unlikely to sit for a nearly three-hour, art-house film.

But the best award that one can give a filmmaker is watching the films themselves and resonating with them. Whether you’re dreamless or wanting to escape into a dreamworld, “Resurrection” is a celebration of the transient elements of life that define humanity.

Published on December 17, 2025 at 11:27 pm
Contact Albert: aalvar38@syr.edu