Popular reviews

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  Review by Sean Baker 13

  Great film. Great performances. Very engaging. I understand that the film had to span the 17 years in order to show the great change that has occurred in China however the emotional whallop came for me in the 2nd section... not sure I needed the third.

  But this is one of my fave Jia Zhangke films. Eric Gautier's cinematography is gorgeous. Glad I waited to see on the big screen at the Vancouver Intl. Film Centre.

  Formats:
  ARRIRAW (2.8K) (source format) (some scenes)
  DV (source format) (some scenes)
  Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format)
  HDCAM (source format) (some scenes)
  HDV (source format) (some scenes)
  Redcode RAW (6K) (source format) (2017/2018 part)
  Super 35 (source format) (second part)

  You can definitely tell the difference between the 35 and the 6K. The 35mm is more pleasing to my eye.

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  Review by KYK ★★★★½ 1

  “this hand saved my life”
  “i’m not left-handed”

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  Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 3

  Life after modernity, and fighting to retain values after even time and history become completely imperceptible. A high masterpiece and Jia's finest work to date, continuing a schematism and line of inquiry hinted at in Mountains May Depart and pushing Jia's work in a completely new direction - a world after politics. One viewing so far to be sure - but easily the film of the year and maybe my favorite film of the decade.

  There's too much here - realizing our smallness and our minuscule place in the cosmos (I hope this means Jia makes a space movie) yet bonding ties that last a lifetime beyond reason - watching a film like this I see something that HAD to…

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  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

  A culminating work, the full blossom of Jia's efforts to mix his undergirding aesthetic and thematic documentation of China's modernization with his recent forays into genre filmmaking. Living proof of the anguish of Major Briggs's stated fear in Twin Peaks that "love is not enough."

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  Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★½ 5

  In Ash is Purest White's press-kit, Jia Zhangke explains how the film had been shot with multiple camera models, and as the film progresses there is an update to the camera technology used based on what year the narrative is taking place in. So, when we start in 2001, we're looking at low-resolution mini-DV, and when we close on New Years 2018, we're looking at the prototype of the RED Epic Dragon camera, in 6K. There's one sequence however, that isn't shot digitally but on 35mm - when Tao is in prison. And no wonder - Ash Is Purest White is a film about living through rapid historical development, and while perhaps one could figure out a way to shoot…

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  Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 2

  it’s all about movement. from dance, to violence, to a hug between two lost souls needing solace, to the simple act of holding your lover’s hand after so much time and life has passed, where you’ve forgotten what hand they use more and how it felt against your skin. time passes and you’re left with regrets and melancholy about everything, so hold onto the hand of the one you love, and don’t let it go.

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★ 3

  A long and melancholy summation of better movies the brilliant Jia Zhangke has made before, “Ash Is Purest White” finds China’s most prominent filmmaker wistfully replaying the hits in order to further romanticize some of the fixations that have always dominated his work. The passage of time, the sweep of modernity, and the outlaw violence that can be traced back to the Cultural Revolution unsurprisingly come to define this fractured saga of a small-time gangster and the girl who was always by his side, as the writer-director spins an epic tale that never quite captures the poetry of its English title. It’s a loveless love story, told across three parts, five different camera types, and 17 years of change —…

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 13

  “It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you... We’re trying to simplify how we tell the story of what we do, and the name represents that... [It is a] momentous event in the history of the Y [that] honors our past and represents our future."
  - The YMCA

  "We are deeply dismayed by today's announcement from the YMCA that they feel a name change and a rebranding are in order after 166 years. Some things remain iconic and, while we admire the organization for the work they do, we still can’t help but wonder Y."
  - Village People

  "We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion…

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  Review by Lucy ★★★½ 3

  AFI 2018: film #2

  “but what about me?”

  one of the most interesting protagonists of the year, this was such a nice surprise but the final act kind of slowed down too much for me. i would compare it to the before trilogy in a more compacted sense, but in this case i was rooting for the female lead instead of their romance

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  Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★½ 4

  Can't wait to watch this again in a couple of days, and then again after I rewatch all his earlier films, but for now suffice it to say that it's Jia's 2046.

  Only Jia would play two of the best movie songs ever (the Wong Fei-hung theme and Sally Yeh's "Shallow Drunk Life", the song from The Killer) and then ten minutes later play "YMCA" twice.

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  Review by KYK ★★★★½

  round 2.

  even funnier (helped by the uproarious laughter of an even bigger, mostly chinese audience), but also more affecting in how times and people (and technology, of course) change over the 17-year span of the story and yet she remains helpless despite her street smarts and her sacrifice and control over situations. this time, i was especially struck by her inability to do much for her father despite her connections and ranking, and what that means for her relationship w/ bin.

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  Review by 20oldboy03 ★★★★ 8

  Regisseur Jia Zhangke erzählt und ins „Asche ist reines Weiß“ von der Stärke der Frau gegenüber dem Manne. Wo das starke Geschlecht Konflikte mit Wut, Hass und Gewalt entgegentritt als bändige ihm die eingeredete Ausweglosigkeit über den Tunnelblick hinauszublicken, sie gar darauf zugehen und die Augen zukneifen wie der Blick in das Fernrohr und zum Fadenkreuz werdend, blickt sich das „schwache“ Geschlecht nach links und nach rechts um, geht einen Schritt zurück, fasst das Gesamtbild ins Auge, entgegnet der vermeintlichen Sackgasse mit Weitblick, entdeckt die die Gase säumenden Türen.

  Wo der Knast, die Haftstrafe den Mann bricht, zerkaut und ausspuckt, auf den unkenntlichen Brei herumtritt, die Kakerlake in die Poren des Fußbodens drückt, wiederum andere ihre unterdrückte und selten aufbrechende…