Resurrection is the kind of film that does not simply ask to be watched, but quietly demands that you surrender to it. Bi Gan turns dreams, memory and cinema history into a 160-minute sensory trip through illusion, time and one very determined monster.
Film details
- Title: Resurrection
- Premiere date in the Netherlands: 11 June 2026
- Director: Bi Gan
- Runtime: 160 minutes
- Genre: Drama, science fiction
- Country: China
- Language: Chinese, Mandarin
- Subtitles: English at KINO, Dutch at LantarenVenster
- Age rating: 16+
- Cast: Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi and Huang Jue
- Where to watch in Rotterdam: KINO, LantarenVenster
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What’s the vibe?
In a near future, humanity has given up dreaming in exchange for eternal life. One mysterious figure refuses to let go. Known as the Fantasmer, he drifts through different times, forms and cinematic worlds, from a ghostly silent-film universe to noir shadows, gangsters and a lost soul near the year 2000.
Then a woman appears who can see through his illusions. She enters his dreams, determined to uncover the truth hidden inside them. Which is quite a commitment, frankly. Some people barely enter a group chat.
Bi Gan does not build this as a neat story with tidy explanations. Resurrection is more like a moving labyrinth of images, music, memory and film history. Each episode shifts style, mood and texture, creating a strange ode to cinema itself. Expect hypnotic long takes, dream logic, visual beauty and a film that probably rewards patience more than popcorn.
Trailer
Check out the trailer below.
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Why you might like it
- Eyes: Surreal images, shifting film styles, long takes and a visual language that moves from silent cinema to noir and beyond.
- Heart: Beneath the dream puzzle sits a melancholy question about what we lose when we trade imagination for safety.
- Mind: The film plays with cinema history, illusion, memory and the difference between being alive and merely continuing forever.
Critical reception
Resurrection has been widely praised as one of the most ambitious films on the recent festival circuit, though it is also the sort of film that politely refuses to be easy. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a strong critical score, with its consensus describing the film as stylistically overwhelming, partly inscrutable and awake to cinema’s possibilities.
Metacritic reflects a similar mood: many critics admire the scale, beauty and symbolic density of Bi Gan’s film, while also noting that it is slow, demanding and abstract. The Irish Times gave it a perfect score and called attention to Dong Jingsong’s extravagant cinematography.
The Guardian called the film bold, ambitious and visually striking, while also noting that its episodic structure is uneven in places. The New Yorker read it as a playful, melancholic reflection on cinema itself, highlighting its shifting genres and long-take bravura.
The film won the Special Prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in competition under its Chinese title Kuang Ye Shi Dai.
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Scene to watch for
Watch the shifts between chapters. Resurrection is built around changes in style, era and sensory experience, so the magic often happens when the film seems to become another film entirely. That is where Bi Gan’s cinephile brain starts doing somersaults, and yes, it is showing off a little. Deliciously.
Recommended pairing
This is not a “quick bite and chat through the trailers” kind of film. Eat beforehand, keep it simple and give yourself enough time to arrive without stress. A 160-minute dream maze deserves a calm entrance.
Afterwards, go for a slow drink or a quiet walk. You may need a little time to rejoin ordinary reality, especially if ordinary reality involves checking your phone and wondering why nothing looks as cinematic as it did ten minutes ago.
Need-to-knows
Resurrection is Bi Gan’s third feature film after Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Like his earlier work, it leans into long takes, poetic storytelling and a fluid sense of time.
The film is structured as a journey through cinema history, with chapters that echo different styles and periods. Several descriptions of the film mention six chapters, while some reviews describe five dream chapters plus framing sections, so expect a deliberately slippery structure rather than a conventional act-by-act story.
