Jia Zhangke’s extraordinary body of work has doubled as a record of 21st-century China and its warp-speed transformations. Ash Is Purest White is at once his funniest and most emotionally generous film–a smart rumination on love and a 21st century, feminist take on the gangster film.
Zhao Tao, the filmmaker’s muse, and wife, stars as the formidable, quick-witted Qiao, a heroine for the ages.
in Mandarin with subtitles | 136 minutes