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Season ends with two fine films

Sunshine Coast Film Society
films
Zhao Tao and Liao Fan in Jia Zhangke’s latest film, Ash Is Purest White, and Glenn Close as a woman who questions her life choices in The Wife, playing both April 8 and 9.

Two fine films are on offer from the Sunshine Coast Film Society as this season draws to a close.

On April 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., The Wife screens at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. Glenn Close shines as a woman who questions her life choices when her husband is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. Be sure to arrive early to get tickets, members can purchase in advance at www.scfs.ca.

Next up is Ash is Purest White, Saturday, April 13 in Sechelt. Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke has been making epic masterpieces for years. This winding tale of love, disenchantment and survival spans a period between 2001 and 2018, one of epic change for China.

It follows local beauty Qiao (played by Jia’s wife and muse Zhao Tao), a woman from a dying coal-mining town in love with a local mobster, Guo Bin (played by Liao Fan).

Early in the film Qiao reflects on the whiteness of ash from a local volcano, marvelling at the purity of anything that burns so intensely. This theme courses throughout. Qiao holds her own in the macho environment that surrounds her and the complicated relationship with Bin. But her drastic actions to save his life result in a jail sentence and the loss of her relationship.

Undaunted, she embarks on a journey to find her former lover, rediscovering herself along the way. A challenging series of adventures ensues as Qiao humourously uses survival skills she learned in the prison yard, and discovers that she has weathered the changes better than Bin.

Years pass, landscapes morph, and entire ways of life seem to vanish as Bin and Qiao drift back and forth into each other’s lives.

Replete with riveting performances, a wonderful score, and sweeping cinematography by French cinematographer Eric Gautier, Ash is Purest White has garnered many international awards and a nomination for the Palm D’Or at Cannes. Don’t miss this final film of the Society’s season and a fantastic look into the reality of modern China.

Ash is Purest White screens at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt and Monday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. Members $5, others $9. Mandarin with English subtitles.

– By Bette Chadwick