The Christian Science Monitor

‘Ash Is Purest White’ burns with quiet, incandescent force

The extraordinary Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s “Ash Is Purest White” spans 17 years. There is not a moment in its 136 minutes when one does not experience the moment-to-moment passage of time, its slow sweep and quiet epiphanies. This is not the sort of movie that offers up immediate gratifications, though there are some of those. Instead, it moves along with a steady grace. Its ruminative

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