ASH IS PUREST WHITE

Zhangke Jia’s Ash is Purest White bares witness as a young couple’s commitment to a criminal code and each other is thoroughly tested by the passage of time. The finest moments are when Tao Zhao’s character improvises her inspired grifts. The latest by Zhangke Jia doesn’t rise to the sublime and astonishing developments of his previous masterwork Mountains May Depart (2015), which will blow your mind by taking its premise farther than most filmmakers dare. The proverbial volcano in ASH trembles, but doesn’t erupt. In a riveting fight sequence, you will also see how motorcycle helmets can be put to brutal use.

AT WAR

Stéphane Brizé’s Measure of a Man (2014) stars Vincent Lindon as an unemployed family man enduring many indignities in a jobless market. The latest At War is a thematic continuation where Lindon leads a workers’ strike against capitalist exploits and gaslighting. Like a fly-on-the-wall Frederick Wiseman doc, At War is full of long-held meetings that gradually deepen with ideological conflict, obstruction and clarity. It is a slow burn where tempers, betrayals and resolve rise to a boil. A demanding and enraging experience.

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