Ash Is Purest White: A Wonderful Chinese-Language Drama

Ash Is Purest White is a movie about a fall from grace. Yet it entertains this fall with an intriguing question: What if disgrace is the path to redemption? The American in me bucks a little bit at the idea that owning a gun in China can get you sent to prison, and nevertheless, this is the predicament poor Qiao finds herself in. Her boyfriend, Bin, is involved in the mob, and when Qiao scares off some gangsters attacking Bin by firing several shots into the air with his gun, she chooses imprisonment for five years over implicating him. However, when she is eventually released, she discovers that life may not go back to the way things were, in some ways for the worse, and in other ways for the better. You see, Qiao hasn't just been knocked down a few rungs on the societal ladder by now. No, he's practically fallen all the way off, at least in the eyes of society. And yet, what if this seeming disgrace is really a blessing?

The visual language of this movie is very good. Ash Is Purest White puts a 4:3 aspect ratio to good use in some of its earlier scenes, leaving a strong impression on me right from the get-go, though it does eventually transition to a traditional 1:33:1 aspect ratio. Much like American mob movies, Ash Is Purest White focuses intently on Qiao's life. Its goal is to undertake a character study of her and how she views the world, and boy, does it ever. Each character, or should I say person, that enters and exits Qiao's life impacts her differently from all the others, a telltale mark of good characterization. Nevertheless, one of my favorite things about this film has to be its intense emphasis on contrast, the stark contrast between wealth and poverty, and more importantly, the stark contrast between Qiao's life living in wealth with a gangster and her life living in poverty in prison. The tonal shift in this film is just incredible, as if we were watching two entirely different movies.

The timeline of Ash Is Purest White spans about a decade and a half, and I think it's so interesting how, with each time jump, Bin changes. I was fascinated by how Qiao expected him to be the same man she knew before she went to prison, and I was fascinated by how she reacted to the fact that he's just gotten worse off with the passage of time. And yet, despite very much being about Bin's fall from grace, Ash Is Purest White is just as much about his moral redemption as anything else. A film like this one needs to have a sturdy emotional core, and both Zhao Qiao and Guo Bin bring the house down. We're given an incredibly emotionally complex movie, spoiled by the chance to see many different sides of both Qiao and Bin, sides they deliver in spades. The acting performances from both are marvelous to the point where I often didn't really feel like I was watching actors anymore.

Now, to be clear, Ash Is Purest White won't be to everyone's liking. It's a patient, character-driven drama for patient, character-loving people. I imagine it will frustrate and even bore some, which is the only reason I'm not going to recommend this wonderful, beautiful movie flat-out. It's a slow-burn drama on the level of the true greats, a tonally shocking and endearingly intimate exploration of how time can change people. If you have the patience for slow-burn dramas, I would consider this one a can't-miss. Ash Is Purest White isn't a complicated movie, but it is a complex one. Oftentimes, ideas are most intriguing when intimate, and cinema is purest when simple.

Ash Is Purest White - 10/10

Psalm 103:13-14