It's a powerful story, with great performances, and I enjoyed a lot of the camerawork and visual storytelling as well. It's also truly refreshing to see a Chinese film that's so feminist. However, once you've seen one depressing Chinese social drama, you've kind of seen them all, because the entire system is unrelentingly crushing in every single such film.

This is not only a dark drama about female vulnerability, but it's also a riveting low-key thriller about corrupt power.

[Qu] handles difficult subject matter with heft and grace in equal measure, giving voice to her film's victims without defining them as mere damsels.

Vivian Qu's screenplay follows many threads and weaves them together in a hauntingly bitter tapestry. What should be a simple crime to litigate becomes an insidious story of the abuse of power and the re-victimization of victims.

Angels Wear White becomes a bottomless pit of despair consuming complex characters with nowhere to go [with] a glimmer of hope at the very end.

If you only pay attention to its tranquil presentation, you might miss the blistering commentary "Angels Wear White" doles out on the built-in sexism of patriarchal cultures.

Qu's vision is sympathetic to her characters' struggles, yet her social commentary is savage, subtle and precision-tooled.

[Vivian] Qu keeps the camera at the height of her two young female protagonists, effectively creating empathy with these young women whose feelings are too easily ignored by the people around them.

In an intriguing film noir full of white light reflecting off virginal dresses, polished surfaces and sparkling sand, director Vivian Qu probes the status of girls in Chinese society.

A brave and hard-hitting drama that provides a social context for violence against women.

[Qu] pulls no punches in her tentacled piece, and it leaves a livid mark.