Generations of Nostalgia and Dreams in Kaili Blues

This story was first published in Coronadiet’s old site on March 26, 2020.

Many aspects of Bi Gan’s filmmaking as seen through Kaili Blues (2015) are reminiscent of the style and techniques of 6th generation Chinese filmmakers such as Jia Zhangke. Broadly speaking, these directors tread the middle ground between fiction and documentary. More specifically, they portray contemporary struggles while exploring memory, travel, and landscapes. Bi and Jia are both interested in regional lives, with the former deciding to focus on the story of two doctors who speak in their provincial dialect and dwell in the past, which continues to haunt them in the form of dreams.

Bi draws more attention to settings and their objects rather than people, placing greater emphasis on the mundane through long takes, a technique that he masters in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Subjects are positioned in relation to their environments as when Chen is framed in the background through the mirror of his motorbike in the foreground. Bi’s framing feels introspective with Chen positioned on the screen in ways that, once combined with cautious camera movement, lead to seamless transitions between his memories and dreams, his past and present.