Synopsis
Ash Is Purest White (2018) is a Chinese-French crime drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Jia Zhangke. The film opens in Datong, Shanxi province — coal dust, karaoke bars, and the strict, unspoken codes of small-city gangsters in the early 2000s.
Qiao is loyal to her boyfriend Bin, a low-ranking mob boss with pretensions of power. When rivals attack their car, Qiao pulls out an illegal firearm and scatters them. Bin never shows up to her trial. She serves five years. The moment she is released she crosses half of China to find him, and what she finds is not what she expected.
Actress Zhao Tao, Jia's long-time lead, carries Qiao across two decades without a single false note — from a woman in love to a woman who has learned to need nothing. The film picked up the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes 2018. It is one of the more honest films about betrayal in recent Chinese cinema: the love does not disappear, it just stops being sentimental. Stream Ash Is Purest White online on iFILM.
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