‘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.

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.”