Critics praise Bi Gan’s ‘Resurrection’ as a visual masterpiece
Chinese director Bi Gan has returned with Resurrection, a film critics are describing as his most ambitious and “head-spinning” work to date. The 155-minute feature, which won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes 2025, opened at number one in China with RMB 116.8 million ($16.5 million) and currently holds a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film is set in a near-future world where most people gave up the ability to dream in exchange for immortality. Only a handful of “Deliriants” still dream. The story follows one such Deliriant, played by pop star Jackson Yee, who reincarnates across 100 years of Chinese history. Narrated by Shu Qi, the character moves through six distinct cinematic eras — from silent-era German Expressionism and Lotte Reiniger-style fairytales to 1930s noir, a Buddhist monk tale, and a neon-lit single-take sequence on New Year’s Eve 1999.
Critics have praised the film for its style and scope. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads: “Pushing against the boundaries of storytelling with overwhelming style, Bi Gan’s Resurrection is equal parts inscrutable and invigoratingly awake to the endless possibilities of cinema.” The Guardian gave it 4/5 stars and called it “a work of real artistry,” while The New York Times described it as “a cinephile’s delight” full of references to film history.
Not all reviews were unqualified. Some critics noted the narrative is intentionally elusive. Time Out wrote that its plot strands “seem to fall apart as you try to grasp them, like snowflakes melting on hot skin.” Others called it a sensory experience meant to be felt rather than fully decoded.
Resurrection is Bi Gan’s first feature in seven years, following Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Shot by cinematographer Dong Jingsong, the film includes a celebrated hour-long single take to close the story. After premiering at Cannes and playing at the BFI London Film Festival, it released in UK and Irish cinemas in March 2026. It is slated to stream on the Criterion Channel later this year.
Rather than a nostalgic elegy, critics say the film works as a tribute to cinema itself — an “ouroborosian odyssey” that explores how art changes us, and how we change the art we make.
