Gu You closes Landscape trilogy with Busan premiere The First Taste of Loneliness
Gu You has closed his “Landscape” trilogy with “The First Taste of Loneliness,” which premiered in main competition at the Busan Film Festival.
The slot places the Chinese family drama in the festival’s top awards section, where juries choose the headline winners. Variety published its review of the film on 11 October after the Busan premiere.
The film begins at a deathbed. A mother, a daughter and a granddaughter keep vigil as their husband, father and grandfather dies of pancreatic cancer. Variety’s review describes the rest of the film as a patient, restrained study of how life reshapes itself around an absence after bereavement.
Three women. One absence. Zhou Xun plays Yue, Xi Meijuan plays Luna and Wang Shengdi plays Moon. The wider ensemble also includes Zhou Yiwei, Mu Zhicheng and Xu Chaoying, according to the listing from sales agent Films du Losange, the company that licenses films to distributors (Films du Losange).
The new film is the final entry in Gu’s “Landscape” trilogy. It follows “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains,” his debut feature which premiered at Cannes in 2019, and 2023’s “Dwelling by the West Lake.” Variety has described the latest chapter as a family portrait by the film-maker.
Busan’s competition put Gu in broad international company. The festival unveiled a 14-title competition section including Gu’s film from China, Deadline reported on 1 September. The section mixes established directors with newer names chasing the festival’s main prizes, and a competition launch brings press attention and meetings with distributors.
The film is produced by Shan Zuolong. He was at Cannes in May 2025 with Bi Gan’s “Resurrection” playing in competition, Variety reported at the time. The producing link connects Gu’s quiet domestic story to the wider festival circuit where art-house films meet buyers and fix release dates.
The word final may need an asterisk. Gu has said his Chinese Landscape Painting Film Series will continue to a fourth instalment, Variety reported on 7 October. That means this three-film arc closes while the larger series carries on.
What makes this stand out on paper is the tight focus. Three generations share the screen from the opening vigil onward. It is a small cast for a trilogy closer, with the story held inside one household after the death, and the festival premiere now decides how widely that household story travels.
