Angels Wear White (Les anges portent du blanc)

Shooting largely with a handheld camera, Qu generates a jittery energy that makes the characters' stress palpable. This feeling escalates as the investigation closes in.

Qu fleshes out her characters to expose the societal and familial pressures that tend to limit options for females.

In its perceptions and mood, "Angels Wear White" plays like acutely serious female noir.

A tough and unsparing drama that vividly brings to light the kind of narrative too many people have endured over the years.

This all sounds grim, and it is. But the story grabs you. Ms. Qu shoots the sturdily constructed scenario with unshowy sharpness.

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.

A poised and perceptive crime drama... every frame leaves an imprint, both visually and emotionally.

The subject sounds heavy, but writer-director Vivian Qu, following her superb debut, Trap Street, is more poet than social activist.

Anchored by two strong performances...Qu rarely veers away from one girl or the other, a smart and sensitive decision to witness and digest the world from that perspective.

The film offers a thoughtful, textured and quietly furious criticism of a sexist Chinese system and society.

Remarkable youth performances anchor Vivian Qu's rigorous procedural Angels Wear White, about the adults who exploit children-and the systemic misogyny that protects them.

A bleak, bold and quietly seething look at the misogynistic culture faced by young girls in contemporary China.