Review | Cannes 2025: Resurrection movie review – Shu Qi, Jackson Yee in Bi Gan’s ambitious drama

Shu Qi is the narrator and Jackson Yee the protagonist in celebration of cinema so impenetrable it will deter all but hardcore cinephiles

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Jackson Yee in a still from Resurrection, directed by Bi Gan and co-starring Shu Qi. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:19am, 23 May 2025Updated: 11:16am, 23 May 2025

3/5 stars

Eight years on from his critically acclaimed Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a commercial flop, Chinese auteur filmmaker Bi Gan, 35, is back at the Cannes Film Festival with an even more audacious and potentially divisive film.

Dedicated to the French film historian and critic Pierre Rissient, Resurrection is a film made by, and for, hardcore cinephiles.

For those who appreciate early 20th century silent movies and German expressionist cinema, and are into the sport of counting the minutes during long takes, the 35-year-old Bi’s visually dazzling, remarkably ambitious and reference-laden feature will be something to behold.

With its sprawling, near-indecipherable narrative and a lack of clearly defined cultural signposts, Resurrection will prove to be pretty difficult viewing for the casual film-goer.

Hong Kong audiences at least might warm to a brief glimpse of a TV showing a performance by the late Cantopop singer Roman Tam Pak-sin of the theme song to the 1980s TV series The Flying Swordsman.

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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shu Qi is the narrator and Jackson Yee the protagonist in celebration of cinema so impenetrable it will deter all but hardcore cinephiles

Shu Qi is the narrator and Jackson Yee the protagonist in celebration of cinema so impenetrable it will deter all but hardcore cinephiles