In a very rare success for art house films in China, Bi Gan's intriguing movie "Resurrection" topped the country's box office over the weekend, making $16.5 million (116.8 million RMB).
This is Gan's third movie, and it made a big splash at the Cannes Film Festival in May, getting great reviews and winning a special prize from the jury, which was led by Juliette Binoche.
Janus Films quickly bought the North American rights and has set a release date for "Resurrection" in U.S. theaters on December 12.
"Resurrection" beat out the popular anime movie "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle," which came in second with $15.6 million.
Another movie, "Now You See Me: Now You Don't," also did well in its second weekend, earning $7 million for third place. According to data from Artisan Gateway, the two foreign films have made $79.3 million and $34.1 million since they started on November 14.
Gan is part of a very small group of Chinese filmmakers who have managed to make big box office numbers with films that are not designed for the mainstream.
His second movie, "Long Day's Journey Into Night," starring Tang Wei, opened with a fantastic $37.9 million single day total on New Year's Day in 2019. This was partly because of a very successful viral marketing campaign that made the film look like a great movie for couples, even though it was actually a challenging, 138-minute art house film about memory and loss. The film faced a lot of criticism on social media from viewers who felt misled by the marketing, which encouraged lots of pre-sales.
However, "Resurrection" has shown that Gan still has many young fans in China, and that artistically bold cinema can still succeed in a market that is becoming more commercial and nationalistic.
Ticketing app Maoyan currently predicts that "Resurrection" will make at least $30 million in its home market.
Gan started gaining international attention with his 2015 debut "Kaili Blues," which established him as one of the most unique filmmakers of today.
Sometimes compared to his filmmaking idol, Andrei Tarkovsky, Gan is known for creating films that mix time, memory, and dreams, using a thoughtful approach to visuals and rhythm. "Long Day's Journey Into Night" took these ideas even further with its final hour, which is a long, continuous 3D shot that takes the audience through a dreamlike sequence of longing and repetition.
At Cannes, "Resurrection" was praised as Gan's most ambitious film yet.
It is structured into six chapters, each focusing on a different sense — vision, sound, taste, smell, touch, and mind. It's both a journey through the senses and a thinking about cinema itself. The movie stars Jackson Yee, who changes a lot, and Shu Qi, who shines brightly. The story follows a mysterious figure called "the Phantasm," who travels through time using different cinematic styles, from silent films to film noir to the present day. The film ends with a scene that feels like a deep exploration of existence. It's full of touching visual symbols about life and how images fade away.
As The Hollywood Reporter's critic wrote at Cannes, "Thinking about the past, present, and possible future of the seventh art, at a time when many believe it's in decline, Bi Gan has made a time-traveling, genre-hopping tribute to the big screen.
In it, he brings back the films he loves and then buries them again, hoping to revive cinema in the process."
No comments:
Post a Comment