I'd like to think of myself as a fairly sophisticated movie goer. I studied film in school, I've seen a wide range of movies from all countries, genres, and time periods. I'm open, and even prefer, movies that are stylistically daring, experimental, and that try things that haven't been done before. But I've now watched two Chinese movies that both came out in the past year, and I'm starting to think that I'm just not smart enough to understand Chinese movies.
I admittedly had never heard of the director of "Ash Is Purest White," which in and of itself made me feel dumb, since he's apparently considered to be one of the hottest international directors currently on the scene. And apparently "Ash Is Purest White" is very much integrated into the movies he's made previously, none of which I've seen, so that didn't help. The film is also very much about the cultural changes that have happened in China in recent years, which I also don't know much about, so again, dumb ass. And this movie doesn't explain any of those changes; it assumes you already know about them.
So I was able to watch "Ash Is Purest White" just for the plot and mood, and it's not like I got nothing out of it, it's just that I spent the whole movie feeling like much was going over my head because of how little homework I'd done beforehand. It's not the movie's fault, but it still impacted my enjoyment of it.
What it does have is a mesmerizing performance by Zhao Tao, who is married to the film's director in real life (thank you Internet). She has been understandably lauded by pretty much every person who's seen this movie, so I can do little but add my own praise.
This was on Barack Obama's list of best movies of 2019, which also intrigued me. Though I will say that it was already on my watch list before Obama released his, so there, Barack Obama (and can you please come back and be our president again?)
Grade: B
I admittedly had never heard of the director of "Ash Is Purest White," which in and of itself made me feel dumb, since he's apparently considered to be one of the hottest international directors currently on the scene. And apparently "Ash Is Purest White" is very much integrated into the movies he's made previously, none of which I've seen, so that didn't help. The film is also very much about the cultural changes that have happened in China in recent years, which I also don't know much about, so again, dumb ass. And this movie doesn't explain any of those changes; it assumes you already know about them.
So I was able to watch "Ash Is Purest White" just for the plot and mood, and it's not like I got nothing out of it, it's just that I spent the whole movie feeling like much was going over my head because of how little homework I'd done beforehand. It's not the movie's fault, but it still impacted my enjoyment of it.
What it does have is a mesmerizing performance by Zhao Tao, who is married to the film's director in real life (thank you Internet). She has been understandably lauded by pretty much every person who's seen this movie, so I can do little but add my own praise.
This was on Barack Obama's list of best movies of 2019, which also intrigued me. Though I will say that it was already on my watch list before Obama released his, so there, Barack Obama (and can you please come back and be our president again?)
Grade: B