LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
In this groundbreaking neo-noir, a man recalls his past among the rainy, neon streets of Kaili in search of a mysterious woman and the friends he has lost before he slips into a hypnotic, 3D, dream.
Infamously known for screenings, it is rare for a film to leave the Cannes audience breathless. Yet for over two hours, Bi Gan’s LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT invited a stunned audience to wade in his mesmerizing reverie that truly touched upon the abstract of love, regret and loss. The drenched back alleys of Kaili are quietly humming with flickering neon as shadowy figure, Luo (Huang Jue) hopelessly searches for a past lover. As he crosses the threshold of familiar haunts, he relives the petty gang violence that left a lifelong friend dead and blood on his own hands. It is difficult to distinguish what is now, a memory, or a figment of the imagination in Gan’s Kaili. But when a local theater’s marquee beckons Luo inside, the audience and Luo traverse into the unknown as Gan (Kaili Blues) astounds with a 3D sequence that may go down as the greatest cinematic feat in history. Led by Gan’s disciplined and deliberate direction, LONG DAY’S is a transformative experience like none before that will linger in the soul even as, like Luo laments, the memory rusts.
CAST: Tang Wei, Sylvia Chang, Lee Hong-Chi, Huang Jue
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