Ash Is Purest White
aka Jiang hu er nv
First screened in September 2018
Director: Jia Zhangke. Cast: Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Diao Yinan, Feng Xiaogang, Xu Zheng, Zhang Yibai. Screenplay: Jia Zhangke.

 Twitter Capsule: I dug the knotting-together of personal and national melodrama, even amid blunter moments. Zhao is remarkable.

Second Capsule: Mountains May Depart lost me after its opening chapter. This feels like a satisfying meld of that film's goals with A Touch of Sin's milieu.

VOR: ⑤  Jia continues his exploration of constancy and transformation in modern China, using genre to increasingly fresh, unconstraining effect.


Photo © 2018 Huanxi Media Group/Xstream Pictures/Shanghai Film Group/
Office Kitano/MK2 Productions, © 2019 Cohen Media Group

Not yet reviewed in full. Grade: B+

Awards:
Chicago International Film Festival: Best Director; Best Actress (Zhao)
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