6. "Ash Is Purest White"

Tomatometer: 99%

"Ash Is Purest White" is a Chinese drama directed by Jia Zhangke and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the turbulent lives of a gangster couple over a 17-year period. In the story, a young dancer is in love with her boyfriend, a small-time gangster boss. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. She gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she searches for him to pick up where they left off. The film expands out into an epic narrative of how abstract forces shape individual lives, and continues Jia's body of work as a record of 21st-century China and its warp-speed transformation. The Critics Consensus: "'Ash Is Purest White' finds writer-director Jia Zhangke revisiting familiar themes while continuing to observe modern Chinese society with an urgent, empathetic eye."