Ascension Review: Clips From China, Anyone?

Okay, I'll add some soft techno here and a some random clips from the poor going up to the rich in China. Nothing that bad, just a lot of jobs that are repetitive. Oh, this bit with a sex doll factory will be
good. I'll put in butler training, that's funny. Oh, and this bit for a medical company where people have to work out in ridiculous military gear. Ooh, look at that fast hand-clapping, this is gold.

 

Sorry, is that all over the place for you? All the scenes I described are the best bits, at least to me, of this clip show that really doesn't try that hard to connect anything. It's Ascension, a brand new film picked up by MTV Documentary Films. It won best doc at the Tribeca Film Festival, which I don't think it should have, for Jessica Kingdon.

 

The below trailer is essentially the whole film, random clips of people in China at shi##y jobs, no real connection to people  as we go on to a new group of workers every few minutes or seconds. And we see, what many people have seen, boring unfulfilling jobs.

If you've heard about the problems in China and had any mild interest this adds nothing to the discussion. There's no new startling clip or even anything that looks that bad from other stories heard or broken about how it is to live there.

I don't know why this was given any praise as so many other documentaries share so much more with the viewer. You connect to a group or family or idea or cause. A single person. None of that is here, but some blasts of techno someone added in post.

It's background fodder at best, just have it on in the background while doing something else. 

I'm remembering more engaging docs like Boy's State that follows young men trying to win mock elections in Texas and seeing how politics is conducted, good and bad. And it's so much better than this. I recommend seeing that. Sadly, it's through Apple TV, so if you have it, enjoy.

The films is out on Paramount+ Nov 15 avoid it.

Screening link provided by publisher for review purposes