When film stars Huang Jue and Tang Wei were lying on wild grass to shoot a kiss scene involving their characters in the new Chinese film, Long Day's Journey into Night, the sound recordist heard the actor's heartbeat quicken.

The moment displayed Huang's nervousness, but the film's director Bi Gan helped him relax with Erguotou, an alcoholic beverage.

"It felt like some little birds were hopping around my chest (before the drink). The recordist laughed and told some other crew members. I guess I'm famous for that now," Huang joked at the film's media preview in Beijing on Monday.

The film, which will be released on New Year's Eve, had made 104 million yuan ($15.1 million) in presale bookings by Wednesday, scoring a new record for arthouse films released in China. The figure exceeds even those of Hollywood blockbusters, such as Transformers: The Last Knight and the superhero film, Venom.

The kiss is playing a decisive role in the commercial success of Long Day's Journey into Night. The promotional slogan encourages moviegoers "to welcome the new year with a kiss". Some theaters have scheduled to screen the film at 9:50 pm on Monday, so the credits will roll at midnight. This is drawing lovebirds, who wish to celebrate the new year in a special way.

But the kiss scene that spans mere seconds is probably not the most significant part of the film, which won for the best sound, original music and cinematography at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan last month.

The film got international attention earlier this year when it was shortlisted as a contender for Un Certain Regard, a category of Cannes' awards that honors young talent and films shot in nontraditional ways. The film has been critically acclaimed in particular for an hourlong take that starts around 70 minutes after the story begins and continues until the end. The scenes were shot after many months of rehearsals with around 200 cast and crew members.

Usually, a long take－a cinematic term referring to shooting consecutive sequences without stopping the cameras－is regarded by critics as an index to judge a film's artistic quality.

Such masters as Ernst Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa and Hou Hsiao-hsien have used long takes in their films.

"There are some classic long takes that have earned films high status in the history of cinema, but that's not why I chose to do a long take. I did it because I wanted the second part of the film to be told in this way, which makes the audience feel as if things are happening in real time," says Bi.

Born in Kaili, Guizhou province, in 1989, Bi shot to fame with his directorial debut, Kaili Blues, about his mountainous hometown. The film, which won a string of awards, has a 40-minute take.

Long Day's Journey into Night, which is also set in Kaili, is Bi's second feature film. It follows a man's return to his hometown to pursue a gang boss' mistress with whom he fell in love long ago.

The first 70 minutes, screened in the 2D format, blends his search and flashbacks of the past. The following 60 minutes, which should be watched while wearing 3D glasses, abruptly switches to a tale depicting the man's hopes and fears in his dream.

"I show all my expectations, nightmares and desires in my films," says Bi, who believes that cinema is a powerful language.

With a budget of around 70 million yuan, Long Day's Journey into Night has a star-studded cast led by Huang, who's known for such artistic works as The Master, and A-list actress Tang, who shot to prominence after acting in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution.

Chen Yongzhong, Bi's uncle who was once a security guard but persuaded by Bi to star in Kaili Blues as the film's budget was tight, does a cameo as the gang boss in the new movie.

The actors and actresses of Long Day's Journey into Night spent nine months filming in Kaili. Usually, a feature film is shot on the Chinese mainland in three months or fewer.

Huang, for example, trained with a local teacher to learn the local dialect for at least two months. And Tang says she "cut her shoulder slightly after the makeup artists failed to create a convincing injury". The most challenging part for Chen was to fiercely pull Tang's hair for a sequence in which the gang boss seizes the two protagonists.

"My actors are very generous. They have given me their time and tolerance," says Bi.

For some critics and industry insiders, the film may show how far a film without studio backing can go in China's box office. But Bi says he has already got what he wanted.

"I just want to direct a good story," he says.