This phantasmagoric dream machine from visionary Chinese director Bi Gan (LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT) is an elusive yet monumental love letter to a century of cinema. Unfolding over five chapters that feature a dazzling array of styles, RESURRECTION is a cascade of imagery united by a luminous mytho-poetic conceit: in a sci-fi-coded world where people have lost the desire to dream in the hopes of prolonging life, rogue “fantasmers” continue to stoke their imaginations and exist within unreality. From this magical premise, the film sends its ever-morphing protagonist (Jackson Yee) through a series of genres, from Méliès-inflected silent fantasy to wartime thriller to con-artist buddy picture to millennial vampire romance — the latter depicted in one of Bi’s customary (and ever astonishing) single takes. Even within genre parameters, the director never takes the road well-traveled, offering jolts and marvels around every corner. RESURRECTION is one of the most audacious and ambitious gifts for cinematic thrill-seekers in many a moon. (Synopsis from the 2025 New York Film Festival)
“For those who miss the way the movies used to act on us, it is a reminder of the uniquely paradoxical pleasures of immersion and surrender: a dazzlingly cineliterate lesson in the lost art of letting go.” —Jessica Kiang, Variety “RESURRECTION sees the writer-director venture onto new ground while also serving what fans have desired. Narratively and stylistically chameleonic, it’s a sci-fi-flavored, century-spanning cinematic collage and profound invitation to dream.” —Zhuo-Ning Su, Film Stage “There’s one thing you need to know about filmmaker Bi Gan right out of the gate: he is one of the most exciting new voices in cinema…. He is doing something new with his stunning latest feature, RESURRECTION…. It’s a film with the power to fundamentally rewire your brain as it puts itself in conversation with the ghosts of cinema’s past.” —Chase Hutchinson, The Playlist
