Coming out of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, one of our favorite films was Jia Zhang-ke’s feminist gangster film, “Ash is Purest White.” The film ended up making the film festival rounds all through 2018, and finally, is ready to open in the US for film fans to experience.
As seen in the trailer for the film, “Ash is Purest White” follows the story of a woman, who happens to be in a relationship with a gangster. While witnessing her significant other being brutally beaten in the streets, Qiao decides to grab a gun and take matters into her own hands. From there, everything changes, leading to a complicated epic story of how this incident has shaped the lives of everyone involved.
As mentioned, the film is written and directed by Jia Zhang-ke, who is probably best known as the incredible filmmaker behind “Still Life” and “A Touch of Sin.”
“Ash is Purest White” will play in select theaters beginning March 15.
Here’s the synopsis:
A tragicomedy initially set in the jianghu (criminal underworld setting,) ASH IS PUREST WHITE begins by following the quick-witted Qiao (Tao Zhao) and her mobster boyfriend Bin (Fan Liao) as they stake out their turf against rivals and upstarts in 2001 postindustrial Datong before expanding out into an epic narrative of how abstract forces shape individual lives. With a three-part structure and stunning cinematography by French director of photography Eric Gautier (Motorcycles Diaries, A Christmas Tale, Summer Hours,) ASH IS PUREST WHITE continues Jia Zhang-Ke’s body of work as a record of 21st-century China and its warp-speed transformations.