Let Bi Gans be Bi Gans

Hi! It’s my first ILF thread. I just got caught up on his first two films in anticipation of seeing Resurrection later this week.(also I just wanted to use this thread title)

He is quite something huh. Watching Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey back to back really felt like watching two versions of the same movie — the genre trappings, the fractured narratives, the elliptical quests (for a nephew in KB, for a lost love in Long Day’s Journey), and of course the epic long takes.

I know there is another long take in Resurrection, and I hope that doesn’t become some signature move that he somehow feels obliged to make. But at least in the first two, it doesn’t feel like a gimmick. It feels like he is exploring the medium and thinking about how to construct narrative and meaning in it.

Anyone seen Resurrection? Thoughts?

kaili blues will forever be a top film in my personal canon, despite its awkward poetics.

long day's journey into night, i don't remember much about and you're probably right that it was a different version of the same movie. in the theater version you were asked to put on 3d glasses right before the long take.

resurrection, turgid. i don't think he does well with a big budget. yes, there's a long take, but it feels almost inconsequential. the long takes feel less immersive the bigger the budget behind them. didn't sam mendes make a wwi movie that was supposed to be one take?

Kaili Blues struck me at first as superior to Long Day's Journey...; then I watched KB a second time and think LDJIN a synthesis of Bi's best and worst qualities.

I'm planning to watch a late afternoon screening of Resurrection on New Year's Day, after a big brunch at a friend's house. So I'll probably be sleepy lol, who knows how much of it I'll remember.

So I quite enjoyed Resurrection. And only got sleepy for a little bit. I thought it flowed well, and the individual segments were all pretty good — and got better as the movie went along, the last two were the best two. Visually amazing, and while I could’ve done with a little less philosophical musing (also true of his other movies) I thought there was a real emotional core to it.

Also for sure worth seeing on the biggest screen available.

So you saw it in a theater? I've only seen Bi Gan's stuff at home.

Yeah our local indie theater got it. Not a huge screen, but a lot bigger than my TV.

While Resurrection was very impressive and skillfully put together I can't help feeling a lack of actual purpose, the Buddhist concept seemed like an excuse to tie it all together without deeply engaging with matters spiritual. Anyway I quite enjoyed it, I can't think of anyone else making such enigmatic films on what I'd guess is a pretty big budget. Fuck an M83 though.

Also, the problem with long takes (30 mins in this case) is that I always find myself thinking "how are they achieving this?" which kind of takes me out of the film. I'm happy with the odd camera cut here and there tbh.