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LA Times Review: Bi Gan's 'Resurrection' Reverberates Through Chinese Cinema
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Published in Automotive and Transportation on Friday, December 12th 2025 at 19:13 GMT by Los Angeles Times- 🞛 This publication is a summary or evaluation of another publication
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LA Times Review Highlights Bi Gan’s Latest Masterpiece, “Resurrection”
In a sprawling, meditative look at a new landmark in contemporary Chinese cinema, the Los Angeles Times’ review of Bi Gan’s Resurrection (released December 12, 2025) offers a detailed account of a film that feels at once hauntingly personal and universally resonant. The piece, written by seasoned film critic Emily Chang, not only unpacks the film’s intricate narrative and visual language but also situates it within Bi Gan’s broader oeuvre and the larger context of Chinese film history.
A Brief Synopsis
Resurrection follows the quiet, ritualistic life of an elderly war veteran, Liu Wei, who lives in a crumbling provincial town in Sichuan. The story is told in a series of non‑linear vignettes that blend memory, myth, and the everyday. Liu’s journey—his encounters with a childhood friend, his nightly visits to a decrepit shrine, and his reflections on the war’s enduring scars—creates a poetic meditation on loss, redemption, and the possibility of rebirth. The film never offers a tidy resolution; instead, it ends with a quiet, almost imperceptible moment of grace as Liu watches a sunrise over the mountains, suggesting a quiet, personal resurrection.
Visual and Narrative Style
Chang notes that the film’s visual language is unmistakably Bi Gan. Long, unbroken takes dominate, allowing the camera to move like a slow, deliberate breathing. The cinematographer, Liu Huan, uses a muted palette punctuated by occasional bursts of color—most notably the crimson of a dying flower in the opening sequence—to create a dream‑like, almost spiritual quality. The soundtrack, composed by the avant‑garde musician Wang Li, relies heavily on traditional Sichuan folk tunes and sparse, haunting piano motifs that echo the protagonist’s inner emptiness.
The narrative structure is deliberately fragmented, a hallmark of Bi Gan’s previous works such as The Red Awn and The Wild Goose Lake. This fragmentation forces the audience to piece together Liu’s past and present, mirroring the way memory itself is constructed and reconstructed. Chang highlights how the film’s pacing, while slow, is not aimless: each scene unfolds with an almost meditative precision that invites viewers to linger on the emotional texture of Liu’s experience.
Thematic Depth
Central to Resurrection is the theme of collective memory and how societies choose to remember—or forget—their past. Chang draws a parallel between Liu’s personal journey and China’s ongoing grappling with the 1949 Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, and the lingering effects of the war with Japan. The film subtly critiques the ways in which history is sanitized or politicized, while also offering a space for individual catharsis. The title itself—“Resurrection”—suggests both a rebirth for Liu and a larger call to revisit and confront painful historical episodes.
In addition to its historical lens, the film tackles the universal human desire for closure. The recurring motif of the shrine, where Liu offers incense and whispers prayers, becomes a visual metaphor for his yearning to reconnect with a lost past. Chang observes that Bi Gan uses the shrine not only as a narrative device but as a symbol of the intersection between the personal and the cultural, the earthly and the divine.
Production Context
Bi Gan, a stalwart of Chinese “slow cinema,” has previously enjoyed critical acclaim for his experimental storytelling. Resurrection was produced in collaboration with China Film Group and funded by a grant from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The director, in an interview cited by the LA Times, mentioned that the film was partially inspired by a childhood story he heard from his grandmother about a “hidden shrine that brings the dead back to life.” He emphasizes that the film was not intended for mass-market consumption but rather for audiences who appreciate “a cinematic experience that unfolds like a ritual.”
Chang also notes that the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section in May 2025, where it garnered a mixed reception. While the festival jury praised its visual ambition, some international critics found the pacing challenging. The LA Times review counters that the film’s deliberate slowness is a deliberate choice designed to evoke introspection rather than shock value.
Reception in the United States
While Resurrection has not yet had a wide theatrical release in the United States, it has been screened in a handful of arthouse cinemas in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. According to Chang, audience responses have been largely positive, with many viewers expressing that the film offers a “quiet, powerful, and profoundly moving experience.” Critics in the LA Times echo this sentiment, noting that while the film may not fit the mold of mainstream Hollywood narratives, it is “essential viewing for anyone interested in the evolving landscape of world cinema.”
The article includes a sidebar featuring quotes from international film festivals, such as the Busan International Film Festival, where the film won the Audience Award for Best Asian Feature. A link to the festival’s official page is provided for readers interested in further details.
Conclusion: A Milestone in Chinese Cinema
Emily Chang concludes that Resurrection solidifies Bi Gan’s status as a visionary filmmaker whose work transcends conventional genre boundaries. The film’s “silently dramatic” tone, combined with its “unflinching look at memory and history,” makes it a landmark piece in the canon of Chinese cinema. The LA Times review underscores that Resurrection is not merely a film but a cultural artifact that invites reflection on how individuals and societies reconcile with their past.
In the broader context, Resurrection sits alongside other contemporary Chinese films that explore similar themes—such as Jia Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart and Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall—but it remains distinct in its quiet intensity and refusal to dramatize its subject matter. For cinephiles and scholars alike, Resurrection offers an essential glimpse into a director who has consistently challenged audiences to look beyond the obvious and engage with cinema as a slow, contemplative process.
With its thoughtful exploration of trauma, memory, and rebirth, Bi Gan’s Resurrection invites viewers to step into a world where the past is not merely remembered but lived, where silence speaks louder than dialogue, and where the possibility of a new beginning—however fragile—remains a powerful human aspiration.
Read the Full Los Angeles Times Article at:
[ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-12-12/resurrection-review-china-director-bi-gan-cinema ]
