Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) and Ip Man (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) battle it out in Wong Kar Wai’s THE GRANDMASTER
THE GRANDMASTER (Wong Kar Wai, 2013)
In theaters now
www.thegrandmasterfilm.com
Hong Kong Second Wave grandmaster filmmaker Wong Kar-wai once again chooses style over substance in his latest work, the visually sumptuous but ultimately confusing martial arts drama The Grandmaster. Wong regular Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, In the Mood for Love) stars as Ip Man, the real-life Wing Chun master who eventually taught such students as Bruce Lee. The film follows Ip Man from his early days in Foshan, where he is chosen to defend the south against the more famous masters of the north, through the Second Sino-Japanese War and his move to Hong Kong. Along the way there are gorgeously filmed fight scenes (shot by cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd and choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping) involving “The Razor” Yixiantian (Chang Chen), Ma San (Zhang Jin), and, most intimately, Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), daughter of retired master Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang), as challengers to Ip Man display their martial arts disciplines in attempts to defeat Wing Chun. An early battle in the rain is particularly breathtaking, bathed in alluring silver tones. But the screenplay, written by Wong with Zou Jingzhi and Xu Haofeng, never really delves deep enough into Ip Man’s character, giving especially short shrift to his relationship with his wife, Cheung Wing-sing (Song Hye-kyo), and children.
Ip Man (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) defends Wing Chun against all comers in martial arts drama
The choppy narrative makes it feel like The Grandmaster was supposed to be a much bigger, more expansive historical epic, and indeed the Chinese version is twenty-two minutes longer, so the 108-minute U.S entry seems lacking. It also comes at a time when the story of Ip Man has been experiencing a major revival, as there have been numerous productions about him over the last few years, including the theatrical releases Ip Man and Ip Man 2 starring Donnie Yen, Ip Man: The Final Fight with Anthony Wong, and The Legend Is Born — Ip Man with Dennis To as well as the television series Ip Man starring Kevin Cheng, so it’s possible that Wong’s film will ultimately get lost in the mix. Although there is still much to admire about The Grandmaster, it follows his disappointing 2007 English-language My Blueberry Nights and the head-scratching 2004 futuristic drama 2046, so it’s been quite a while since the masterful Wong’s heyday of the 1990s, which included such dazzling works as Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together before concluding with the lush, unforgettable In the Mood for Love in 2000. Here’s hoping his next film will be more than a series of stunning set pieces that make the story secondary.
Nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Cinematography (Philippe Le Sourd), Best Costume Design (William Chang Suk Ping)