Resurrection: this film, by BI Gan, is above all a strong reminder that cinema is a visual art. Yes, it is generally there to serve a story, but what defines cinema is the moving image. The film tells, in five episodes and an epilogue, the story of a man who is the last one to dream in a society where dreaming has been banned. Each episode is independent beyond the fact that they all have the same actor playing versions of the same person in different dreams set in different time periods. Yes, the narrative can be slow at times, and it certainly is opaque; it requires patience, but the film rewards those who are not adamant about the need for a linear, clear-cut story in spades. There is a certain melancholy that permeates the whole film, and the connection made between dreams and cinema itself makes the subtext all the more interesting.

There are not many people doing what Bi and his cinematographer DONG Jinsong do with the camera (and everything else, of course: the staging, blocking, acting, production design, and lighting are all part of it). Simply put, this film is a visual spectacle. Each episode drinks from a different source, so there is great variability in what is intended, and the first two and the last episodes in particular are superb. The music, by M83, is wonderful.

Jackson Yee plays the protagonist in his five versions, and Shu Qi plays the woman who tries to find him and understand him. Both are quite fine in their roles.