Ash Is Purest White

Released Mar 15, 2019

2 hr. 21 min.

Drama

Romance

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List

99%

158 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

In an industrial city in China, a young dancer named Qiao falls in love with a mobster named Bin. When a fight breaks out between rival gangs, Qiao uses a gun to protect Bin and is sent to prison for five years.

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Critics Consensus

Ash Is Purest White finds writer-director Zhangke Jia revisiting familiar themes while continuing to observe modern Chinese society with an urgent, empathetic eye.

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S R

Totally didn't expect this one. Showing a different side of communist organized crime. I expected it to have been less serious and more on the action side. Regardless, it was thought provoking and interesting. Saw on Tubi.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/28/24

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Antonio d

Boring, unrealistic characters and plot, 3 y.o. diaologues.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

12/01/22

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isla s

This is very much a bleak and sometimes quite gritty film. Its got a mostly urban setting and by the end its somewhat introspective. The main protagonist seems quite mysterious, which intrigued me a bit. I felt myself rooting for her at times. I did feel the film seemed a bit directionless at times, plot wise, which didn't help. As I say, there's a sobering side to what goes on, the principles and morals that are discussed. It's not a film that I found entirely memorable or would want to watch again but its ok. It had a bit of a feel of An Elephant Sitting Still, I thought. I'm not sure what else I could say but I'd only recommend it to people quite familiar with these sorts of films, who are prepared to give it a shot, if you know what I mean.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I liked it, though I was left feeling mostly just...sad, by the end. I found the characters a little too perplexing to love this film, but it is also one that has left me thinking about it a lot, so my opinion will probably only improve with time. At the end, I was left asking “but WHY?”. Given time to mull on it, I can see how deliberately this film follows the bigger themes of personal alienation and national alienation (I’m paraphrasing other reviews) as China develops and changes at an incredible pace.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/21

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Audience Member

The movie is totally disjointed and utterly disappointing, although it's interesting to see the Chinese culture.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

An honorable act of self sacrifice goes ignored, thus the plot of this film is propelled. Qiao's journey to find her man is kind of interesting in regards to the people she meets, but what I found really interesting here was the depiction of modern jianghu, which can have many interpretations as it turns out.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Zhang-Ke Jia

Director

Tao Zhao

Qiao

Fan Liao

Bin

Zheng Xu

Actor

Casper Liang

Actor

Feng Xiao-Gang

Actor

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Ash Is the Purest White: Trailer 1

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Amy Taubin

Film Comment Magazine

The film is a restless journey through the political and social mainstreaming of China in the first two decades of the 21st century.

Oct 6, 2022

Full Review

Christy Lemire

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Zhao Tao just gives this powerhouse performance. It's so understated and her work -- and the film as a whole -- really do accumulate in their emotional resonance.

Sep 23, 2019

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Namrata Joshi

The Hindu

An intimate story of romance, betrayal and loss gets framed against the sweeping, epic backdrop of radical, socio-economic changes in China.

Aug 2, 2019

Full Review

Pablo Staricco Cadenazzi

Vague Visages

Another masterful chapter of the director’s artistic journey, one that works wonderfully as a point of entry into his oeuvre.

Dec 14, 2023

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Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

All this makes sound Ash sound funereal, but it’s fun, actively designed for its first 2/3 to allow audiences some uncomplicated enjoyment...

Jan 4, 2023

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

Full of empathy, longing, and a surprising amount of restraint considering the film’s gangster element and the eruptive metaphor within its title.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 19, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

In an industrial city in China, a young dancer named Qiao falls in love with a mobster named Bin. When a fight breaks out between rival gangs, Qiao uses a gun to protect Bin and is sent to prison for five years.

Director: Zhang-Ke Jia
Screenwriter: Zhang-Ke Jia
Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Production Co: Eyesteelfilm, Office Kitano, Xstream Pictures, Arte
Genre: Drama, Romance
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 15, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 16, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $416.0K
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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