ASH IS PUREST WHITE finds writer-director Jia Zhangke (Still Life, A Touch of Sin, Mountains May Depart) revisiting familiar themes while continuing to observe modern Chinese society with an urgent, empathetic eye. The film, which premiered at Cannes 2018 to critical acclaim, centers on Qiao (Zhao Tao, Jia’s wife and frequent star), who is in love with Bin (Liao Fan), a local mobster. During a fight between rival gangs, Qiao fires a gun to protect Bin – which gets her sentenced to five years in prison. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off.

Beginning in 2001 in the postindustrial city of Datong and then expanding out into an epic narrative spanning 17 years and revealing how abstract forces shape individual lives, ASH IS PUREST WHITE continues Jia Zhangke’s body of work as a record of 21st-century China and its warp-speed transformations.

David Ehrlich of IndieWire praised ASH IS PUREST WHITE as “an epic tale. Further proof that Zhao Tao is one of the greatest actresses in the world.” The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney said, “The film provides a transfixing leading role for Jia’s wife and indispensable muse Zhao Tao … Their partnership is one of the great husband-and-wife collaborations of contemporary cinema. The performances of the two leads are riveting.”

“This is one of [Jia’s] peak achievements: pure cinema, and a story of the underworld unlike anything you’ve seen before,” raved Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune. Zhao Tao’s performance is “her best yet,” wrote Peter Howell of the Toronto Star. “Zhao and Liao make the most potent couple in [Jia’s] entire filmography,” said Trevor Johnstone of Little White Lies.

Extras on the ASH IS PUREST WHITE Blu-ray and DVD include a “Directors Dialogue” with Jia Zhangke recorded at the 2018 New York Film Festival.