As King Hu edges towards a spiritual transcendence in A Touch of Zen, wuxia spectacle dissolves into a meditative, cosmic stillness, revealing its worldly struggles between imperial authorities and persecuted fugitives as fleeting dramas within a transient world.
More than simply rendering Chinese folklore as large-scale spectacle, Ne Zha 2 fully internalises the philosophical traditions underpinning that ancient, metaphysical mythology, observing transcendence emerge through self-realisation rather than moral division.
Bi Gan’s metamodern autopsy of cinema may be elusive in its dreamlike passage through time, yet in becoming one of the medium’s most transcendent accomplishments in recent years, Resurrection enacts the intersection of art and reality as a transient, bittersweet exchange.
