Interesting and all-encapsulating documentary on modern China. The narrative structure of classes is smart and although the film has presented certain subjects in a slightly biased way, it does portray the country's modern landscape to a relatively objective degree. When consumerism, the Internet economy, population gain, academic devaluation, and the increase in the need for various goods contribute to the concept of the "Chinese Dream", people of different classes, regardless of gender or background, try their best to improve their “value” in this competitive society economically, professionally, or socially.

非常典型的新左翼知识分子视角，通过大量异质鍧疏离的影像，试图形成对于"被资本主义侵蚀的中国"的一种观察。可惜的是这种冷眼旁观的视角终究只能为观众提缁"悲悯的俯视"和"璐屑的仰视"，更为复杂且模糊的平视鍧自视被导演有意无意地忽略掉了。璐过这些电视新闻以外的记录镜头，对于中国人和外国人来说终环鍑是有益的。

I loved this immersive portrait of Chinese culture and the idea of the "Chinese Dream" as is so rarely displayed. Jessica Kingdon's documentary feature breaks down the supply chain, how workers are recruited, and what people do in what little spare time they have. It is fascinating. China comes off as a technologically advanced country with early 20th Century values which is not a good thing. If you are in any way intellectually curious about a land that has plans to take our the world economy this should be immediately placed on top of your watchlist. Final Score: 9.4/10

A beautiful and chilling documentary that shows the cycle of innovation and progress within China, Loved the combination of cinematography and music, and the observational approach allows the audience to soak every image in and pull meaning from it rather than having it given to us.

Seems almost everything has already been said. But seriously; am I the only one here who has ever seen and remembers Koyannisqatsi?

I liked the "inside look" at a range of jobs and relative lifestyles…all that is not available to outside visitors.

Ascension, despite being void of narration, tells a deep, visual story of the economic and social inequality between the people of China and the audience watching. It is a unique documentary that provides such profound juxtapositions between high society and poor conditions. Many shots are beautiful enough to be Wallpapers, but then others slowly reveal themselves as depressing fragments of some Chinese people's everyday life. The film ascends to remarkable heights in this hour and a half experience that will leave the audience confounded at how to think about China and its class struggle in a new light.

I find this style of observational documentary extremely easy to get absorbed in and Ascension proved no different. I appreciated the restrained use of narration in this case as well, letting the images and voices of the subjects in a particular scene stand on their own. I found aspects of this interesting because of the similarities I recognized from my own country's culture but also found the characteristics unique to China of equal interest and important in understanding how much they have grown in the last hundred years.

Oscar nominated Documentary, streaming on Paramount Plus, this film has no narration or interviews... but features shot after shot of daily life in China.. we are treated to several scenes to start of lines of Chinese workers assembling things in factories.. they spend an extended sequence watching them assemble sex dolls for instance... and then we move on to other parts of life in China... it's actually quite interesting despite the seeming random nature of what we are seeing.

Apprehensive at first because of the lack of narration, but quickly turned into my favorite documentary of the year.

Ascension - 2021 (Documentary) 2.5 out of 5 stars What does a rave at a water park, flyboarding, lipstick advertised by the military, a job you get to sit at, and life-sized "dolls" have to do with each other? That's what I'm left wondering after watching the Oscar-nominated documentary "Ascension." The plot synopsis reads, "The film follows the Chinese dream through the social classes, prioritizing productivity and innovation." that may sound a bit harsh, but I didn't dislike the film for what it's worth. It was a unique look at a world that I had never seen like this before. I had my eyes opened at just how different countries handle capitalism. China is still one of the largest industrialized nations in the world, and this dives into how that title is held. The most interesting aspect for me was the "How It's Made" style, many scenes simply just showing workers laboring away at their posts. Watching repetitive tasks being done for hours on end was pretty intense. I know that there are assembly-line jobs in the US, but this seemed different. I take for granted some of the things that I just think a machine makes. I'm sure some of the tasks could be automated, but why bother with that when you can pay slave wages to humans. My apologies if that was stern, but so many jobs like this are overlooked and considered "unimportant," that is, until someone is no longer willing to do them. Capitalism is a terrible thing when it's left unchecked; I don't think this was the entire purpose of this film, but it is one of the things that I took from it. There was an interesting subplot to the film that showed the ranking system in China, just how different two people's lives can be all because of their "social class." I don't pretend to fully understand their society, their prioritizing of industry, or how life works, but this was a look into that world that I hadn't seen before. Where to watch: Paramount + For more reviews and my YouTube channel, please visit linktr.ee/Overlyhonestmoviereviews Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. My social media accounts can be found by searching Overly Honest Movie Reviews on most platforms. I'm always happy to hear from my readers; please say hi or send me any questions about all things movies.

"The Chinese Miracle," with its astounding economic growth in a relatively short time, has inspired awe around the globe, and the nation's zealous adherence to "the Chinese Dream" has contributed significantly to that outcome. Similar in nature to the American Dream, the Chinese version is driven by a belief in hard work and dedicated diligence as a pathway to affluence. But, as director Jessica Kingdon's excellent new documentary effectively shows, is that dream attainable or illusory? The film clearly depicts China's relentless drive for perfection and success in all endeavors, showing how supposed opportunities for advancement are available at virtually all levels of the economy. However, do those opportunities genuinely translate into hoped-for outcomes, or are they merely ploys to squeeze out peak performance from naive underclass workers who believe the promise and are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead? Meanwhile, the film also illustrates the opulent degree of privilege that comes with wealth, but is this something that everyone can realistically share in, despite assurances to the contrary? The picture's inventive cinematography, frequently backed only by the movie's engaging score and minimal dialogue, an approach reminiscent of prior visually focused documentary works like "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) and "Samsara" (2011), shows more than tells in conveying these themes, immersing viewers in imagery designed to profoundly conveying these intents. For all these strengths, though, the narrative tends to stray somewhat at times, especially toward the film's end, but that's easily overlooked in the picture's overall context. What's perhaps most significant, however, are the parallels between what's transpired in China and what appears to be unfolding here in the US as it begins modeling itself more after its overseas competitor as a means to keep pace. And that should be a caution to all of us before we fall prey to illusory notions ourselves.

It's visually awesome. I really got a very strong sense of Chinese factory life and Chinese culture from it. It lets you draw your own conclusions. I think the other reviews expected something else and were disappointed. I expected nothing and was fascinated

Ascension is a mixed bag of a documentary. I like the observational approach director Jessica Kingdon takes in theory. But the execution could’ve been improved. I think the film tries to show so much that it doesn’t have time to settle on one scenario. Once you are invested it just jumps to something else. It doesn’t allow the film to have the impact it should. The film accomplishes what it sets out to do in showing what it’s like to work in China. The score is also pretty impactful in certain scenes. I just wish the film wasn’t as repetitive. Overall, this wasn’t terrible but it could’ve been better. I respect what the film sets out to do, and I think it accomplishes that. A shorter runtime would’ve helped it be less repetitive though.

The documentary is nothing special and spends 97 minutes showing different jobs in China. The only conclusion it tries to show is the capitalist aspect within modern communism. An extremely boring movie.

Not much to see here. Samsara and Baraka remained unbothered. The latter ones touched on different topics but the visual aspect of this documentary falls way too short of they were trying to achieve. The documentary is neither interesting nor visually pleasing.

I was quite excited to view the movie with acclaimed reviews from critics and featured in SF Film in the historic Castro Theater. However, after sit through an agonizing 97 minutes of tense and unpleasant story telling, disappointment is the only takeaway I have. The film is structured to illustrate a wide variety of workers live in different social classes from labor/manufacturing, to social services/online sales, and to the elites. However, the film has completely failed to illustrate the the real stories of the people, the aspiration for their hardwork, or the complex socialist-capitalist political-economic model that deepened wealth inequality. As a documentary, or at least a good one, should present relatively unbiased observation by presenting balanced facts, taking inputs of the people who actually live and experience the stories, and allow the audiences to make their own evaluation of an unfamiliar culture. However, this whole film is made with subconscious judgement and criticism of how the Chinese people live. A typical westerner's take on the "poor" "sad" struggling east. The film maker, though with Chinese decent, has really no real life experience of living the culture nor experiencing the grit, the struggle, yet the triumph of the Chinese people. The original score throughout the film paints a dark, eerie, and intense tone to the story telling. The ratio of different social classes were significantly pivoted to reflect assembly lines and labor workers. The story telling lack of connections between the classes, I mean, how do you climb a ladder, without even presenting the ladder? The film is a direct projection of a privileged westerner, looking for where are the big shock factors to surprise audiences, without really telling the true stories of the people. I'm frankly more than just disappointed by the poor story telling but also offended a so called film maker with Chinese heritage making a judgmental take on its own people without real understanding of who they are, how they were come about, and what have caused these shocking phenomenons in China.