Ash Is Purest White remains one of Jia’s most accessible and discerning films.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 2, 2025

It relies on interesting characters and cosmic moments to visualise the character’s internal struggles.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2024

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

| Dec 14, 2023

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

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

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

Overall, watch the film for its powerful story of grassroots gangsters uprooted by the changes around them. It's grim, gritty and yet abundantly entertaining.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 20, 2022

Episode 44: Ash Is Purest White / Long Day's Journey into Night / An Elephant Sitting Still

| Original Score: 62/100 | Oct 4, 2021

There are fascinating glimpses of Chinese life in Ash is the Purest White, and other moments that do not make a strong impression at all.

| Feb 10, 2021

Zhao Tao plays one of the finest performances of her career so far, the return to form we've been waiting for from Jia Zhangke...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2020

It's another rigorous film by Chinese director Jia Zhangke about people transiting through Chinese provinces to highlight the earthly effects of globalization on the country's contemporary times. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 25, 2020

The pace at which Jia trudges with this pair of lost souls is beguiling, as is the streak of black comedy coursing through the movie's veins.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2020

Ash Is Purest White is a soul-flooding marvel that will make you feel so many things all at once, which is just one of many reasons it's so remarkable.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 21, 2020

A deep and poignant masterpiece from seasoned filmmaker Jia Zhangke.

| Jul 17, 2020

A film that feels vividly alive all the way through its 136-minute running time.

| May 29, 2020

As Qiao, Zhao [Tao] perfectly captures this complex character full of rage, emotion, and determination.

| Jan 19, 2020

Jia Zhangke has crafted a razor-sharp study of alienation and the corrosiveness of the patriarchy in contemporary China. And Tao is a revelation.

| Dec 23, 2019

Jia Zhangke highlights the changes China have been experiencing during the last decades, as tradition has succumbed completely to technology, speed and the relentless pursue of money.

| Dec 1, 2019

...a mesmerizing mood piece about personal alienation and national dislocation.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 7, 2019

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