Jiang hu er nü (Ash is the Purest White)
Starring: Tao Zhao, Fan Liao
Director: Zhangke Jia
I had never seen a movie by Jia Zhange before Ash is Purest White. I did see a poster for Touch of Sin at a Landmark theater in New York City when I was going to see something else. It had a motorbike on fire in what looked like a desert and a man standing in front of it. Awesome poster, totally wanted to see it, but never got around to it. My mistake, as it would have introduced me to Jia Zhange years before 2019. Better late than never. Ash is Purest White is a masterpiece, an intimate love story told in impressive scale.
Zhange invites us to spend 17 years with Qaio, one of my favorite characters I’ve had the pleasure to spend 2 hours and 15 minutes with, as she navigates her ever-changing relationship with her love Bin, in an ever-changing China. In 2001, Qaio and Bin are gangsters in Datong, a northern city in China that is in trouble due to the coal industry moving out. The two of them lead together with equal power. Qaio seems to take to the lifestyle even more than Bin does some of the time. Not so much the gangster part, as much as the code of ethics they live by.
Ash starts slow, but if you are prepared and stick with it, you will uncover some scenes of phenomenal power. One that occurs early on features Bin and Qaio dancing to “YMCA” in a club. They are having a great time until Bin’s gun falls to the floor. No one seems to notice but Qiao, who gives him a look so direct it’s the only dialogue needed. No words are spoken and over the course of the film Zhange only has his characters talk when it is necessary. If he can achieve his goals in a look, he won’t bog it down in language or big stylistic flourishes (although his flourishes are brilliant, particularly one touch during the second act).
After a violent event spurred by a turf war, the film jumps to 2006, where Qiao and Bin are separated and she is traveling to see him. She doesn’t exactly know where he is and her old friends aren’t being much help. People seem to have moved on, but she holds firm to Bin, almost more as an idea than as a person, a symbol of the code of ethics that she followed as part of the gang in Datong. She travels down the Yangtze River on a boat. A loudspeaker mentions the Three Gorges project. I had no idea what this was, but a quick Google search let me know that it was a project to build a dam on the river that altered the water levels significantly. It was a massive project and the river and the people around it were in flux, just like Qiao is, as she tries to define her life going forward.
We jump one last time to 2018 where I wont tell you what is happening. It's not that it would be much of a spoiler but taking the journey with Qiao is such a fulfilling trip that I won’t dare ruin it.
While watching this film I was struck by two things. First, I was amazed by how detailed Ash is Purest White is in chronicling Chinese society and daily life. Especially during the 2006 section, it feels so alive and authentic, like Roma without the spectacle (no offense to Roma, this is just a different film). I’m honestly surprised that China would let us see China depicted this way. Far from the gorgeous lives and period pieces that are normally exported, this is a story that focuses on every day citizens and their troubles. Not that it isn’t stunningly gorgeous, because trust me it is.
Second, Tao Zhao (who plays Qiao) blew me away. Qiao is not an easy character by any stretch of the imagination. She is quiet, stoic, a bit mysterious, and she calls for an actress who can play her over the course of more than a decade and a half. Each time we drop in on her story, we have to understand how she has changed and also recognize her as the same character from before. Zhao tracks her journey with masterful skill, making us believe every moment. She makes Qiao real. There is a scene where Qiao learns an unexpected bit of information and though her face stays almost emotionless, her eyes betray her and it is crushing. A film like this lives and dies on its performances and Zhao is truly alive. It is just icing on the cake that Fan Liao plays Bin with the same level of authenticity and care throughout.
This is an incredible film and I could write about it for ages. I haven’t really touched on how lovely it is to look at or how it is sonically dazzling in how it brings Qiao’s world to us. In execution and in content it is essentially flawless. You owe it to yourself to see it if this kind of movie is your cup of tea. I can’t think of a world where it doesn’t crack my top ten of the year come December. This is a story of a relationship over 15 years that is as delicate as it is sweeping.
A+