I first saw this mesmerizing film last September at the Toronto International Film Festival and I’ve probably thought about it at least once a week ever since. So rarely are you able to say that you’ve had a truly unique cinematic experience at the movies and Bi Gan’s masterful Long Day’s Journey Into Night just so happens to be one those opportunities. The final 59 minutes are some of the most dazzling filmmaking you’ll ever see. Any lover of cinema owes it to themselves to see this groundbreaking achievement on the big screen. – Andrew Jupin, JBFC Senior Programmer

Bi Gan follows up his knockout debut, Kaili Blues, with this noir-tinged stunner about a lost soul (Jue Huang) on a quest to find a missing woman from his past (Wei Tang, Lust, Caution). Following leads across Guizhou province, he crosses paths with a series of colorful characters, among them a prickly hairdresser played by Taiwanese superstar Sylvia Chang. When the search leads him to a dingy movie theater, the film launches into an hour-long, gravity-defying 3D sequence shot that plunges its protagonist—and us—into a labyrinthine cityscape. China’s biggest arthouse hit of all time, the film took in more than $40 million dollars in its opening weekend at the domestic box office.