The films of Bi Gan

In late January 2026, the Chelsea Theater of Chapel Hill NC screened all three feature films of the Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, as well as one short film.

I first saw Kaili Blues when it was released. It was not screened anywhere in my area, but sensing that it could be a film that might be meaningful for me, I asked my father if he could find a Chinese-language copy. He successfully did so, but this then required me to find English subtitles for it, and find a way to sync those with the Chinese video file. The effort paid off, as I saw a spectacular film from a singular and visionary filmmaker.

But in the years since, it was difficult to find local screenings of Long Day's Journey Into Night as well, and its long running length and supposed 3-D(?) sequence intimidated me, and lowered my interests in seeing it. I never found the time to revisit Kaili Blues either.

So I was extremely excited when the Chelsea Theater announced these screenings, finally giving me an opportunity to see all of them on a big screen. I was shocked when the first showing of Kaili Blues was screened to a nearly full house! An ice storm and snow storm threatened to delay subsequent showings, but weeks later I was finally able to catch up with the remainder. I don't have full-fledged reviews or essays on them, but at the very least I have some thoughts/notes to jot down.

Ranking

Kaili Blues (4.2)
Long Day's Journey Into Night (4.2)
Resurrection (3.9)
A Short Story (3.1)

The realism and pathos of Kaili Blues is extremely effective to me, and its long take is the most joyful and exhilarating to me. LDJIN doesn't quite have as much pathos for me, with a less likable set of characters, which dings it slightly for me. But the higher production quality makes some of the visuals even more stunning. I'm not sure what 3-D adds, I didn't get to experience it that way (and I'm guessing very few have).

Resurrection has severe flaws in my mind, despite being the most highly praised critically. While the overall theme is (too?) obvious, the individual stories don't hang together in a coherent way for me. And I had issues with several of the stories - the first gangster/noir 'sound' story was far too dark, twisted, and gruesome for my tastes, and the 'twist' of the NYE 1999 story (SPOILER - she's a vampire) adds nothing, while severely detracting from the realism. The sight/smell trickster story was fine, but unsatisfying. The taste story in the snowy temple was the only satisfying one of the set for me. The wrapper scenes were extremely cool though. I liked the film overall despite those flaws, but I definitely grade it below Kaili Blues and LDJIN for those reasons.

Themes

Dreams can be more real and truthful than reality.
And even in reality, as is said in Buddhism, the future is not real, and the past is only half-real, only the present moment is real. Does that include dreamtime?
Though this is an important theme of Bi Gan's films, it does sometimes make them difficult to follow, as the chronology of scenes can be unclear, and whether a scene is from a dream or 'reality' can also be difficult to discern. Repeat viewings may be necessary to unlock understanding, and significant pathos can be uncovered.

While Resurrection purports to celebrate the richness and value of dreams, spelled out quite clearly, I'm not sure if its component stories carry that theme very much, another reason why that film doesn't work as well for me.

Place

One of my favorite aspects of Kaili Blues is the glimpse into life in rural China.

What do Chinese moviegoers think of Bi Gan's films? What does the government think of them?

According to my dad, Kaili Blues was very well-received in China. LDJIN was highly-anticipated there given its star power, but its opaque artsiness turned off a lot of more casual moviegoers. Resurrection even more so. I don't have any sources that can confirm whether that is true or not. And I don't know anything about the Chinese government's opinions on the films.