Angels Wear White
Kimstim Films | Release Date: May 4, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 3, 2018
The moral rot and callous corruption depicted in Angels Wear White has a particularly bracing effect in part because, cultural specifics aside, the inhumanity on display is hardly alien. Read full review
90
Screen DailyFionnuala Halligan
It’s an excoriating story told with gentle sympathy; a lashing tale about the abuse and marginalisation of women at the hands of a dark establishment in a sun-filled resort. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMay 4, 2018
The film has an engrossing and powerful drama that is all the more effective for writer/director Vivian Qu’s refusal to keep the story from spinning off into lurid melodrama — all of the story points on display have the harsh bitterness of truth to them. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared Mobarak
Angels Wear White becomes a bottomless pit of despair consuming complex characters with nowhere to go. Read full review
83
The PlaylistAndrew Crump
The film looks heavenly, often bathed in light, as if Qu wants nothing more than to assuage these women of their suffering by suggesting paradise. But the brightness is just a veneer. Beneath the surface, “Angels Wear White” is as bleak as they come. Read full review
83
IndieWireMichael Nordine
Angels Wear White brings into relief the bureaucratic corruption and class tension that inform the power dynamics of such situations. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 17, 2018
In its perceptions and mood, Angels Wear White plays like acutely serious female noir. Read full review
80
Village VoiceSerena DonadoniMay 3, 2018
Qu unpacks much that matters in Angels Wear White, including the abuse of power and importance of status and wealth in Chinese society, but her most thoughtful, nuanced observations involve female sexuality. Read full review
80
VarietyMaggie Lee
Engaging female dynamics result in strong, convincing performances, especially as their relations eschew platitudes on sisterhood or exploitative images of victimization. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate Taylor
Qu’s symbolism, including a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe in her provocative Seven-Year-Itch pose presiding over an empty beachfront playground, is big, bold and impressively cinematic, thanks also to cinematographer Benoît Dervaux. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMay 2, 2018
In her understandable fury, Vivian Qu almost valorizes suffering, embracing it as a substantial signifier of identity. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van Hoeij
Perhaps Qu’s near-passive tone is meant to suggest that women don’t have much of a voice in society. But the story's almost complete lack of emotion also negatively impacts the viewers’ interest in the women’s plight. What does come through loud and clear is that Angels Wear White paints an unflattering portrait of not only how women are treated but also of how men try to protect their turf at all costs. Read full review
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