PINNLAND EMPIRE: THE SCHOOL OF TARKOVSKY: BI GAN

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

THE SCHOOL OF TARKOVSKY: BI GAN

Stalker / Long Day's Journey Into Night

While Bi Gan has listed everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Hou Hsiao-hsien as some of his directorial influences - no other filmmaker’s residue has rubbed off on his work more than Andrei Tarkovsky.
Over the last year and half he’s mentioned Tarkovsky in almost every interview during his press run for Long Day’s Journey Into Night. But, as you’ll see in the examples below, Gan’s history with the films of Tarkovsky started long before 2019...

The first time I wanted to watch “Stalker” was because the director looks like my Grandpa. As I watched it, I felt it is very awful and I thought that this world famous director cheated me. I wanted to critique this film so I thought I should finish watching it first. However, it was too hard for me at that time, I could only watch five to ten minutes each day. Finally, I finished it one day and I went to the school cafeteria for lunch, thinking I could proudly write an essay to criticize Tarkovsky when I got back to my room. Suddenly, something bumped into my mind: why can’t film be like this? Can you achieve aesthetics through how you film? - Bi Gan

From his lesser known shorts (Secret Goldfish), to his earlier feature films (Kaili Blues), Tarkovsky has been a visual reference point for Bi Gan since dearly on. He’s borrowed from just about every Tarkovsky period from Ivan’s Childhood through Nostalghia.

Enjoy...

When I watched Tarkovsky’s film “Stalker” in college, I was shocked again and it totally subverted my concept about film - Bi Gan