LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
Director: Bi Gan
133 minutes. China, France. 2018. Subtitled. Colour. 3D-Cinema.
Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2018.
Luo Hongwu returns to his hometown of Kaili, in search for Wan Quiwen, the woman he loved, and has never been able to forget. Young Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan’s second feature is a marvel. A nocturnal dream addressing issues of time and memory, it is divided into two distinct parts.
The first, shot in 2D, exploits voice-over and popular songs to evoke memories, while the camera glides through scenes filled with colour and an atmosphere reminiscent of the cinema of Wong Kar-Wai. Part two, is a 3D long sequence shot in a single take, on notions of space, dreams and memories.
Bi Gan remarks ‘3D images resemble our memories… The three-dimensional feeling recalls that of our recollections of the past… Like a mirror that turns our memories into tactile sensations’.
Bi Gan's (b. 1989 in Kaili City, Guizhou Province, China) critically acclaimed debut feature Kaili Blues (2016) won the Best Emerging Director Award at Locarno International Film Festival, the Montgolfière d’Or at Nantes 3 Continents Festival, and the Best New Director Award at the Golden Horse Awards. Long Day’s Journey Into Night is his second feature.
