Given that I thought director Bi Gan’s first film Kaili Blues was far and away the best of its year, this follow up was always going to have a lot to live up to. This is especially so given that he has managed to attract serious acting talent in the form of Tang Wei and Sylvia Chang this time around. Unfortunately as is often the case, while this remains very recognizably the work of the same director, I found it to be markedly inferior to the first film even as it tries to draw on many of the same elements.

As with Kaili Blues, the plot defies any easy summary or analysis. The narrator and main character Luo Hongwu returns to his hometown of Kaili, ostensibly for his father’s funeral. But this triggers all sorts of old memories in him, beginning with the death of an old friend of his nicknamed Wildcat. Many years ago, Wildcat asked for his help to deal with a debt owed to a gangster. But Hongwu failed to do so and his friend was killed. He later tried to seek out the gangster responsible and tracked down the gangster’s girlfriend who tells him her name is Wang Qiwen. She claims that her boyfriend has moved away and she doesn’t know where he is. Hongwu in turn claims that she reminds him of his mother and they become romantically involved. In the present, Hongwu seemingly searches for her, tracking down a woman who she committed crimes with and is now in prison. But soon enough the past melds indistinguishably with the present and cause and effect becomes intertwined such that even the characters remark that it feels like a dream.

Visually this film is similar to the previous and takes equal delight in showing off the small towns of Guizhou which the director palpably loves. A great touch is that while the last film mostly shot Kaili in the daytime, the scenes in this one are almost entirely set at night, which gives this a different vibe altogether. However while Kaili Blues had only the vaguest semblance of a plot, this one, at least at first, seems to want to tell a coherent story. Between Hongwu searching for the murderer of his friend, a gun that he inherits and the figure of Wang Qiwen as a mysterious femme fatale at the center of it all, this has all the makings of a noir, which would fit the neon-lit night of the setting. I feel however that this is a misstep and a source of frustration for the viewer as we feel compelled to solve the mystery of who this woman really is yet it is fundamentally unsolvable. It eventually becomes clear that the director wants to capture some of the atmosphere of a noir and isn’t really making one at all. That’s why once the film gives up any pretence of being solidly grounded in space and time, it immediately becomes a much better film.

While the cinematography is excellent throughout, the need to tell a story somewhat restrains it in the first half of the film. Then in the last hour, the director cuts loose completely and films it entirely as a single take. The effect is extraordinary and electric, even if you don’t consciously realize what is causing it. The main character’s leisurely amble through the streets of the town is sheer beauty and while everything looks natural, a performer on a stage in public, food sellers on the sides, laborers carting fruits etc., you know that everything is planned out meticulously to make it all look good. This is I think the director’s greatest skill, to take a seemingly ordinary place, bring it to life and make it look absolutely beautiful.

While this remains an excellent film, I still like the first one much more. Apparently this was even marketed as a romantic film for Chinese audiences and received blowback as most people claimed not to understand it. While my wife was okay with the romantic elements, I found them overwrought and silly. By contrast, in the first film the director seems to be completely motivated by his love of his hometown which feels more genuine to me. Here he name drops Kaili so frequently that it gets ludicrous, going so far as to give a dog that name. No doubt Bi Gan will continue to make great films though I hope he’ll manage to find more inspiration and perhaps ease off on shots that are directly copied from Tarkovsky.