Ash is purest white 2019

An intimate epic made by the highly regarded Chinese director Jia Zhangke and as highly regarded as he is, this was the first film by him that I’ve seen. Set in China at the beginning of the 21^st century it’s the story of an attractive young low on the scale gangster and his equally attractive moll like girlfriend. Their small empire consists mainly of mahjong parlors and cheap discos where the patrons dance to The Village People. There are conflicts among the various gangs, nothing unusual about that and one night during an exciting kinetic and exuberant car ride the couple played by Zhao Tao (who is married to Zangke)  and Liao Fan are set upon by a bicycle riding gang of teen thugs.  Liao is pulled from the car and badly beaten and Zhao grabs  a gun that was left in the car by Liao  and sets off some shots stopping the carnage but not killing anyone. Refusing to give up Liao as the owner of the gun she is sent up the river for five years while Liao only gets one year. In a few brief scenes we see her prison routine and on her release she sets out on a long journey to find Liao and instead finds a China quickly changing just as she has changed. This might remind some of those many women melodramas of the 30’s & 40’s that starred Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Crawford as a strong female on her own and doing damn well at it. Things are rough for Zhao, she is robbed, has no money is confused and lost by all the changes that took place while she was locked up, but she is smart at her own cons and these scenes of her doing the grift are terrific and fun. At the same time she continues on her journey to find Liao and things don’t go so smoothly and in the last half of this long leisurely beautifully photographed movie Zhao and Liao finally meet up but life and their relationship is not the same, nor will it ever be. Both actors are wonderful with Zhao giving an especially compelling and superb performance and is in it seems every scene of the movie. No doubt a film not for everyone, it is as I said long and leisurely paced, but each scene has surprises and Liao Fan is very easy on the eyes, and Zhao Tao is remarkable.