"Resurrection": A Surprise Bag of Chinese Film History

Bi Gan's "Resurrection" is a cinematic exploration that delves into the history of filmmaking and the human senses, presented through five distinct episodes. The film's formal structure sounds intricate: each episode mirrors a filmmaking era and a phase of recent Chinese history, while also corresponding to one of the five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

A science-fiction narrative frames the film, where humanity has discovered eternal life by ceasing to dream. Rebels known as "Fantasmers" resist this, causing temporal chaos. A hunter, the "great Other" (Shu Qi), pursues a "Fantasmer" (Jackson Yee) through various dream phases, each depicting his own death. This complex setup, however, recedes as the film's sensory richness takes hold.

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The inclination towards self-glorification is inherent to cinema. How could it be otherwise for an art form that can make banal everyday gestures like smoking a cigarette seem so imitable that many feel compelled to warn against it?

The first episode immerses viewers in the silent film era with its dollhouse-like sets and German Expressionist angles. Subsequent episodes feature the "Fantasmer" as a spy in a film noir set during China's Japanese occupation, complete with fedoras and a mirrored hall shootout echoing Orson Welles. The narrative continues to weave through different cinematic styles and historical contexts, showcasing Bi Gan's masterful visual storytelling.

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At the same time, there has always been an aura of decadence and doom surrounding film art.