Ash is the Purest White

MOVIE #1,144 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 09.11.23 PART OF THE JIA ZHANGKE DIRECTOR FOCUS The most interesting thing about Ash is the Purest White — one of President Obama’s favorite films of the year! — is that it's almost a bait and switch for a revenge movie: we keep waiting for the bad man to get his comeuppance but Zhao Tao just constantly eats shit instead. The idea of personal sacrifice over revenge or retribution. To say this runs counter against the norms of a typical Western audience is putting it lightly. It has many of the J.Z. hallmarks: time jumps and angular shifts (not necessarily in perspective here, as the focus is squarely on Tao, but in tone and energy), stark and lovely exterior shots of Chinese landscapes and cities, etc. I’m not sure why his films haven’t completely resonated with me.

Perhaps it has something to do with the cultural divide, and that’s perhaps fitting, as it seems to be the driving thematic force throughout his career.

While his movies are always looming with the threat of violence, he rarely ever films it. But I thought this one chaotic outburst was nicely done…


This marks the end of the line (as of 2023) for new Jia Zhangke fictional features. In two weeks, we'll close the book on Jia (for the time being) with a short film and a documentary.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,143 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,145 ⫸

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Ash Is Purest White (Chinese: 江湖儿女; 'Sons and Daughters of Jianghu') is a 2018 Chinese drama directed by Jia Zhangke. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The story is loosely based on the leader of a gang from Jia Zhangke's childhood, whom he had admired as a role model. It was released on May 11, 2018.