ASH IS PUREST WHITE
In this sweeping gangster epic from Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, a woman is determined to find a lost love after serving time in jail, but doesn’t recognize the China she once knew.
No country in the world can claim such recent, radical growth than modern day China and no director has been able to dramatically capture and critique such robust development than master filmmaker and Jia Zhangke (PFF24’s MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART, PFF22’s A TOUCH OF SIN). In his latest Cannes competition selection, he once again collaborates with actress Zhao Tao as Qiao, a cool temptress running a mah-jongg parlor with her boyfriend and small-time gangster, Bin (Liao Fan). In a shocking Zhangke-burst of violence, Qiao, with dignity, finds herself in jail after using an unlicensed firearm while defending Bin from harm at the hands of a ruthless gang. Upon her release after only five years, the drained Qiao is disturbed to find no trace of Bin and a China that has moved on. Lost in her own country, Qiao begins her quest to discover what has happened to her love and her own identity in the crime underground where the rules have changed. Like with MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART, Zhangke continues to create sprawling, visceral epics, holding a mirror to his beloved country that has forgotten its people in following a thirst for power.
CAST: Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Xu Zheng, Casper Liang
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