84
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistWarren CantrellThe PlaylistWarren CantrellStylistically, Ascension borrows from the city-symphony genre at times, with long stretches passing without any dialogue as the camera whips past and through recycling depots, cell phone assembly lines, and poultry plants. There are no talking heads in the picture or any camera-facing reflections to guide the audience along a narrative, making it less cinéma vérité and more direct cinema in style. It is an effective approach.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergPresented with no narrative and limited structure, Ascension is a collection of breathtaking images and revelatory vignettes that position China as a simultaneously alien and completely universal cultural and industrial landscape, never spelling out which direction points toward progress.
- 90Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterNever appearing to judge any situation, Kingdon confidently allows the images to tell a fascinating, universal story of inequality and class division, revealing a country that feels more like a capitalist society than anyone’s idea of a Communist state.
- 90Los Angeles TimesRoxana HadadiLos Angeles TimesRoxana HadadiThrough her unfussy direction and sly editing, Kingdon’s collection of vignettes is a reminder that the destructively frenzied cycle of consumption and waste always trickles down.
- 89Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAustin ChronicleJosh KupeckiFocusing her camera on the rising cogs in the machine of China’s insatiable consumer culture, Jessica Kingdon expands on her 2017 short “Commodity City” with the visually stunning feature Ascension.
- 80The GuardianCath ClarkeThe GuardianCath ClarkePart of the film’s genius is in how the images are put together, sometimes to absurd effect, at other times unnervingly.
- 75RogerEbert.comCarlos AguilarRogerEbert.comCarlos AguilarAs engrossing as it’s alarming, the documentary flows with a stream of consciousness about the illusion of the “Chinese Dream.”
- 70Film ThreatFilm ThreatIt empowers Chinese citizens while also shining a light on the exploitation and oppression they face in the workplace and job market.
- 63Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanThere is no narration. There are no interviews. Just rote, monotonous activity — a recipe for repetitive stress injury — and the occasional fly-on-the -wall conversation on which we are allowed to briefly eavesdrop between several representatives of what Ascension suggests is as a nation of strivers, with hearts set on achieving what might be called the new Chinese Dream: wealth and success, in the world’s second largest economy.
- 60The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThe New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThis aestheticization of Chinese society doesn’t exactly sit well with this viewer: one wonders if this counts as a kind of tourism.