Ash Is Purest White

Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White has been described as a remix and a greatest hits compilation of themes from throughout his career. Musical symbolism aside, the 2018 film incorporates motifs explored in his earlier features, from the documentary footage blended with a fictional narrative that pervades most of Jia’s work to his interest in China’s crackdown on criminal behavior (see Xiao Wu, 1997). There’s even a familiar appearance by a UFO, recalling a brief scene in Still Life (2006). But rather than mere variations on established preoccupations, China’s most incisive documenter of the country’s social and economic development into a globalized power streamlines his ideas for perhaps his most effective mixture of narrative thrust and national commentary. The Sixth Generation filmmaker once again uses the pretense of a genre, namely the gangster saga or jianghu, to access and disguise his observations about the increasingly draconian and repressive Chinese state. As a result, Ash Is Purest White remains one of Jia’s most accessible and discerning films.

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