The Grandmaster (2013) User Reviews

Wong's signature themes and artistic flourishes are still very much alive, but 'The Grandmaster' lacks a focused narrative for a compelling exploration of Ip Man's life

[moviexclusive · 7/10 · 18 January 2013]

"Don't tell me how good your skills are, how brilliant your master is and how profound your school is. Kung fu - two words - one horizontal, one vertical. If you're wrong, you'll be left lying down. If you're right, you're left standing. And only the ones who are standing have the right to talk."

For all intents and purposes, the film began as a biopic of one man – to be more specific, Ip Man, the influential kung-fu master who was instrumental in spreading the Wing Chun style around the world and who was perhaps better known for being Bruce Lee's master. But in the midst of exploring Ip Man's life, Wong must have been suddenly struck by the thought - What exactly makes Ip Man so special? Or even better, why should a movie set in the golden age of martial arts be solely about one grandmaster?

And so, despite Leung's omniscient voice-over, 'The Grandmaster' is in fact not about Ip Man alone. Be warned therefore, if you are expecting a movie focused on Ip Man, because you're likely to be sorely disappointed – as Tony Leung reportedly is – that you're likely to know more about the Man from the Donnie Yen films.

Indeed, the narrative is the film's biggest handicap, though to be fair, it only becomes apparent later on. The first half-hour begins strongly with a rightful focus on Ip, and key highlights include his initiation into martial arts by his master Chen Heshun (Yuen Woo-Ping) and his loving marriage to Zhang Yongcheng (Song Hye-kyo). Ip's first challenge would come with the arrival of Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang), a venerable kung fu master from northeastern China looking to consolidate his power in the southeast even as he retires.

After Ip goes on to win the battle of minds with Gong, the latter's daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) stands up to challenge Ip yet again in a bid to restore her family's reputation. That duel also marks a turning point for the movie, which shifts away from Ip and explores the vendetta that ensues between Gong Er and her father's power-hungry protégé Ma San (Zhang Jin) against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation of China.

Against the better advice of her elders, she forsakes her betrothal to avenge the death of her father at Ma San's hands, which culminates in a thrilling battle set at an old railway station in Hong Kong one New Year's Eve. Where is Ip Man's involvement in all this? Admittedly there is little.

Though Wong does bring Ip back into the picture towards the end of the film, his audience is likely to have grown too emotionally detached from the character. A scene towards the end that portrays supposedly the last time Ip met Gong Er is infused with the director's signature sense of longing and regret as the latter reveals her feelings for the former, but how that bears relevance to what Wong is trying to say about Ip or Gong Er's tumultuous lives is too obscure.

In fact, throughout the film, Wong offers little insight into the person of Ip Man. What might have been a meaningful portrait of his relationship with Yongcheng is lost when the latter is practically forgotten in the second half of the movie. We learn little too of Ip's relocation to Hong Kong, and how he built up his reputable school for Wing Chun. All things considered, a more coherent portrait of Gong Er actually emerges from the movie.

Rather than regard it as a Ip Man biopic therefore you'll be better off seeing it as Wong's philosophical musings on martial artists. Fans of the auteur will recognise these familiar themes from his previous works, but Wong's treatment is still unparalleled in conveying regret, longing, and unspoken desires – whether is it Ip Man and Gong Er's mutual affection for each other, or Gong Er's lament for a life less fully lived.

Le Sourd's visuals are also particularly ravishing in the action sequences, designed with much imagination and flair by veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping. The opening sequence that sees Ip Man take on a whole gang of men along a rain-soaked street is filmed with utmost clarity on the beauty and precision of the moves, with the subsequent duels between Ip Man and Gong Yutian as well as Gong Er equally breathtaking to behold.

Keenly aware of the actors' limitations, Yuen goes for elegance over spectacle. Nonetheless, both Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi also perform impressively given their lack of a martial arts background, the months of training to get them prepared physically for their respective roles paying off in the grace and confidence by which they execute their moves.

Nonetheless, Zhang easily trounces Leung in the film's dramatic scenes, the former's combination of grit and vulnerability making Gong Er a more compelling figure than Ip Man. The fault of course isn't Leung's alone, as his usual penchant for nuance and understatement unfortunately working against his portrayal in a narrative that pretty much relegates his character's account as a marker of the passage of time.

Of course, narrative was never a strong suite in Wong's films, which typically were mood pieces boosted by his signature artistic flourishes. These trademarks are still very much alive in 'The Grandmaster', which is easily one of the most beautiful kung fu movies ever made. But plot plays a much more important role here than in Wong's other films, since it is ultimately through Ip Man's experiences in life that we come to understand his deeper introspections. This is where Wong's film stumbles, relegating Ip Man to a sideshow instead of placing him front and centre – and given all that hype and expectation of Wong's Ip Man biopic, the cut we see here can only be regarded as a disappointment.

Extremely beautiful to look at but also also a tad too hard to follow and uninvolving.

[Hellmant · 7/10 · 24 February 2014]

'THE GRANDMASTER': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Critically acclaimed Kung Fu epic about legendary Chinese martial-arts master Ip Man. Ip Man was the Wing Chun grandmaster and his most famous student was Bruce Lee. This film chronicles the years leading up to his success as a martial arts teacher. It stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as Gong Er, his main love interest. Kar Wai Wong directed and co-wrote the movie (with Jingzhi Zou and Haofeng Xu). Wong is famous for directing and writing other popular Hong Kong period piece dramas like '2046' and 'IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE'. I'd rate this flick about the same as Wong's others; I thought it was extremely beautiful to look at but it's also a tad too hard to follow and uninvolving.

The story focuses as much on Gong Er (Ziyi) as it does Ip Man and follows a love story between the two as they keep in contact for many years following a fight for Gong's family's honor. Ip Man had defeated her father, Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang) in a battle that was as much about philosophical ideas as combat. The film follows Ip Man's years during the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1938, struggling through poverty with his family. It also focuses on Gong Er's attempt at vengeance against the man who murdered her father, Ma San (Zhang Jin).

The story is told in a very disjointed way and it was really hard for me to keep up with what was going on in it. I often find these epic Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks to be dull anyway and wasn't too interested in seeing this one. It did get mostly good reviews from critics though and it's nominated for two 2014 Oscars (in Cinematography and Costume Design). It definitely deserves those award nominations and is very breathtaking to look at. I also think Zhang Ziyi is one of the more beautiful and sexy women in cinema today and she gives a great performance here. I'm not sure how I feel about Leung Chiu-Wai as an actor, he's not bad in this movie but I didn't really learn to care for his character much at all. The martial-arts scenes are grand and epic though and I'm sure fans of the genre will be more than pleased.

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Art and poetry.

[playbobbie13 · 8/10 · 23 February 2015]

Rarely have I seen a movie with such a marriage of art and poetry. It seemed like studying a paining at depth while hearing a poet/teacher tell a story of his life. Ip's story and his connection to Gong Er was operatic. I was engrossed to the end by the performances. The direction and cinematography was the best I've seen in a long while. The long, slow scenes were perfect for the story as it was told mixed with a soundtrack that was appropriate throughout. I truly enjoyed this movie and I will add this to my private collection as a movie I will want to return to again and again. Even the fight scenes were more dance or ballet than simple fighting but with technique and flow rarely seen. I highly recommend this film.

The 64 Empty Hand Moves (Red Boat Opera)

[chaos-rampant · 23 June 2013]

Surely, this is a compromised film. Years in the making, and has one foot in the blockbuster league which means it has to address a wide audience, satisfy investors and make a healthy recoup—in the Chinese market, it did. What both these mean is that Kar Wai had to set up artificial limits to his vision, then swim to real ones, limits he cares to meet as an artist, then see how swiftly he can move back and forth.

But let's not mince words here. Kar Wai is a cinematic master. And I'm sure I will remember this as one of the most interesting, most wonderful, most visual films of the year come December.

Right off the bat, you should know that if you want the clean, rousing version of Ip Man you should go to the Donnie Yen films. It's a legend anyhow, most martial arts stories are (especially the Chinese), embellished in the telling. So if you want 'truth', you're looking in the wrong place to begin with. About Ip Man, you should know that the fighting style he is supposed to have originated called wing chun, at least as taught now, takes some old Taoist notions about softness and intuited flow and creates a uselessly complicated and scholastic system of study.

But the notions are powerful, and this is likely what attracted Kar Wai to a film about him.

So the artificial limits here are the kung fu movie, a type of narrative deeply embedded in the national character. So we get familiar history as the backdrop, Civil War, Japanese invasion and so forth. The film will be familiarly lush and operatic for the Chinese. It also means we get fights, we do—some marvelous ones. It means we get the heroic portrait—the good vs evil sifus, tied to contrasted history, tied to the passing of tradition. The kungfu plot revolves around preserving the secret 64 moves and avenging the old master's death, usual tropes in this type of film.

But he sets all this up in order to break it, that's what Ip Man's talk about breaking the cake represents in his standoff with the old master of the northern school, contrasted to his belief that it should be whole—metaphorically referring to a strong, unified China, the same obsession with fabricated harmony that powers both the political and martial arts narratives over there.

This is what Kar Wai does, he breaks the harmonies.

Not so much in the fights: Kar Wai plays with them like a master painter fools with paint in commissioned work. He plays with speeds, textures and choreographed impacts but does not radically push the language like he did in Ashes. Ashes really was a radical break in temporal experience, wonderful stuff with many layers. Here, we experience fights cleanly, in a way that will satisfy the broad audience.

He breaks the heroic narrative: in his worldview, time does not linearly build to the 'big fight', it happens with one third of the film to go and Ip Man is not in it, what should have been a dramatic death happens offscreen, history is glimpsed off the streets, we get flashbacks and forwards, abstraction and long visual poetry. And the 64 moves are never passed on. All that fooling with structure is a way of loosening limits of genre and tradition, inherited limits to vision.

But what is really worth it here, is watch him swim to meet his own limits—multilayered reflection on memory as living space for the eye.

In martial arts terms, that means soft, yielding to inner pull, to the hardness of fights, politics and quasi-mythical narrative. It means every hard narrative thrust in the name of tradition, country or lineage, becomes an anchor he uses to submerge me in visual exploration of feelings. In visitation of spaces of desire, flows. Sure, it is not as successful as previous projects, because the fancy fights and exotic settings get in the way, jarring me from a tangible experience. But it's still pretty much the same wonderful swimming, each thrust of the hand creating turbulent patterns in water.

For instance, the daughter waiting in the train station to avenge the old master is the anchor. But between that first shot and the decisive encounter, we get a wonderful current of images; cooking smoke at night, snow, refracted light through windows, children running. These are not of the story, but snow flakes of remembrance the air drags in. The cut from statues of Buddha to grainy footage of bustling Hong Kong is one of the most thunderous edits I've seen. And the entire last third of the film is purely a Kar Wai film; all about unrequited yearnings, ashes of youth in a gilded box.

So spliced inside the kung fu comic-book is a sort of Mood for Love where again we had the contrast to 'hard' fabrication in the writer of kung fu stories.

It is muddled, because you can't have crispness when the whole point is a fluid recall. Tarkovsky is 'muddled'. But it's so lovely overall.

The coveted moves as the excuse for the man and woman to meet attempting touch, the Taoist pushing and yielding of hands to be close.

They are empty hand forms, in that there is nothing to be grasped beyond the shared flow. It is all about cultivating sensitivity, listening, placement in space.

Exciting as well as interesting art martial movie with violent combats , thrills and artistically shot

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 15 October 2014]

This film tells the story of Chinese Martial Arts Master IP man , the most famous fighter of China and around the world ; this is the tale of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee . In fact , Bruce Lee trained in Wing Chun and later developed his own hybrid martial arts philosophy . IP Man was the founder and spiritual guru of the Win Chun . This luxurious Kung Fu film was marvelously filmed with good production design , colorful cinematography , spectacular combats and breathtaking scenes . The flick displays lots of violence , action filled , fierce fights though turns out to be overlong and some tiring . It deals with Ip Man's (Tony Leung) peaceful existence in Foshan , but his life changes when Gong Yutian (Wan) seeks a successor for his family in Southern China . Ip Man then meets Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) who challenges him for the sake of regaining her father's honor . Later on , there takes place the Second Chinese-Japanese War , as Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide food and comfort for his family but they decease . While , Gong Er takes the way of revenge after her father is wrongly murdered .

Good film starring Tony Leung , based on the true story of the martial arts master IP Man . Tony Chiu Wai Leung trained four hours a day for a year in preparation for his role . This moving Chop-Socky displays drama , action-packed , thrills , and wild fighting images . It is an action-filled and violent film , being filmed in Shanghái , Foshan, Kaiping ,Guangdong, and Shenyang, Liaoning, China . Director Kar Wai Wong establishes his signature style of kinetically-paced story-telling through sumptuous imagery , leading to international critical acclaim . The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with frenetic action , surprises , fierce combats and groundbreaking struggles . The rousing fights with deadly use of fists , feet and palms ; actors exercised ¨Wing Chun¨ it is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes short-range practical combat with direct punches and blocks and low kicks , its practitioners are trained to quickly approach and engage opponents at close range , this can negate the longer range of taller opponents by attacking from inside their offensive perimeter. Fights , attacks and exciting combats very well staged by expert fighters , the result is a strong entry for art martial buffs . Amid the glamour and grandeur of the scenarios is developed an intrigue between Chinese-Japanese confrontation and about a fighter master who attempts to restore his name . Groundbreaking combats among Tony Leung , Ziyi Zhang and a lot of enemy fighters . Classic as well as impressive Chop-Socky in which wild fighting scenes provide an overwhelming view of Tony Leung/Ziyi Zhang's skills . Actors made their owns stunts ; some of the players got injured and to had to be hospitalized during the shooting , some of them suffered mild concussions during filming, after being struck several times during fighting scenes .

The motion picture was well directed by Kar Wai Wong , but some moments results to be a little boring and slow moving . He is 1st Chinese to win the Best Director Award at Cannes film Festival (1997) for "In the Mood for Love" and has directed several successes such as ¨My Blueberry nights¨, ¨2046¨, ¨Happy together¨, ¨Fallen Angels¨ and ¨Chungking Express¨. And , of course , this ¨The Grandmaster¨ that was official submission of Hong Kong to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category . One reason for the long development time of the movie was that the film spent over a year in editing before director Kar Wai Wong was satisfied . The ¨Grandmaster¨project was announced almost 10 years before its final release, due to director Kar Wai Wong's endless perfectionism. Several other motion pictures about the Ip Man that were conceived after this announcement most famously ¨Ip Man¨ (2008) by Wilson Yip with Donny Yen , ¨IP Man 2¨ (2010) by Wilson Yip with Donnie Yen as Yip Man , Xiaoming Huang , Wong Shun-Leung , Sammo Hung Kam-Bo , Lynn Hung , Simon Yan and ¨IP Man 3¨ (2013) with Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as Ip Man, Gillian Chung , Jordan Chan and Eric Tsang , all of them were all released in the meantime.

"...no art is higher than heaven, no gift more solid than Earth."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 12 October 2014]

As is my practice, I'll read a handful of other reviewers on the film in question, and in doing so here, everyone I read seemed to have some knowledge of the Ip Man history and the films dealing with the subject. I harbor no such knowledge or background. Quite honestly, I pick up these modern day martial arts films for their visual beauty and skillful presentation of fighting styles and not for the story per se because they're almost always the same. This picture offered some well choreographed fight scenes, many of them on surfaces that should have been a hindrance to maintaining coordination and balance, such as on snow and in the rain. Instead of brightly colored backgrounds, the general rendition here was primarily dark and unappealing. Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't have a lot of trouble following the story as it were; whether it had anything remotely to do with historical accuracy I have no way of knowing. Many times a picture will leave me with the desire to learn more about a subject by the way it sets the table; this movie's failure in that regard left me feeling indifferent.

Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster (2013)

[TheDelusionist · 7/10 · 31 May 2013]

The Grandmaster chronicles the life of Ip Man Wing Chun (played by Tony Leung), in Foshan in the 1930s and his flight to Hong Kong after the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Ip Man's peaceful life is threatened by Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang), a retiring martial arts master from the north, is doing anything but encouraging the friendship with the south. Meanwhile his newly appointed heir Ma San (Zhang Jin) turns out to be up to no good and kills this master. His daughter, the beautiful Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), is determined to avenge his father's death, but of course to do so she'll have to renounce a happy life with Ip Man.

Wong Kar-wai's tenth feature film is a return to form for the Hong Kong auteur. The Grandmaster looks stunning, courtesy of cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd's incredible vision. Wong once again plays with slow motion, distorting the image, filming through glass and creating a dynamic and immersive picture. This film is a visual spectacle. You could turn off the sound and still have a great experience, but don't do it, because Frankie Chan's score is a pleasure to listen to: engrossing, in the quiet scenes and epic, in the climactic scenes. The acting is definitely high-caliber, like you would expect from a Wong Kar-wai film, and Zhang Ziyi is just dazzling.

Personally, I don't have much knowledge or interest in the martial arts subgenre, which is why I was amazed by how much I enjoyed this film. I am a big Wong Kar-wai fan though and he manages once more to subvert genre expectations. From the gorgeous opening titles and the grandiose opening scene I was on board with this film. I usually get lost with the plot in films like these, but fortunately as with most of Wong's films the story is not the most important thing. His writing is top-tier and surprisingly focused. I thought the fights looked badass and well choreographed. The use of different film stock adds to the historical angle and looks really cool. Knowing Wong's films I was expecting more in terms of the romantic storyline, but reflecting on it now, I understand that he was going for a less is more approach in this one.

All in all, a very good film that can be appreciated by kung fu genre aficionados as something different and refreshing; Wong Kar-wai fans of course, for his distinctive style and people who are just looking for something to feast their eyes on.

A bit boring

[misha_kerogazov · 6/10 · 22 June 2019]

I watched 4 movies about Ip Man before watching this one and there is no way, but not to compare. My understanding was that this movie was supposed to be more of a story telling than about fighting and it was, but the story was a bit muddled and at the end even boring.

The fighting scenes are pretty good, but in my view not better than Donnie Yen's performance and for the plot... The story was supposed to be about Ip Man, but the focus constantly shifts and jumps between Ip Man and Gong Er, to their fictitious romance, to some "Razor" character, whose presence wasn't clear to me, except for his affection to Gong Er.

The last twenty minutes I was sort of waiting for a final fight (not sure who with who) and when it ended without any final fight at all, I felt quite disappointed. It's worth watching, but could be much better.

Magnificent in its Original International Cut Version

[rblenheim · 10/10 · 26 October 2014]

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL CUT, NOT THE 'HARVEY WEINSTEIN' American VERSION:

It was finally time for the great iconoclastic Hong Kong director to turn to martial arts in his intense and atmospheric telling of the great grandmaster teacher, Ip man, and he doesn't disappoint.

Wong Kar-wai brings the poetic beauty of his "In the Mood for Love" to this Chinese action genre and executes it with a precise rhythmic heightening reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah at his best, while bringing out the experience of living through the Japanese invasion of China during WWII.

The cast is magnificent, especially Tony Leung as the Ip man and Ziyi Zhang as Gong Er who perfectly embodies a kung-fu mistress trying to avenge her father.

A Wong masterpiece to put on a level with his finest work!

PS: One particular reviewer earlier criticized the editing of this film which, to me, smacks of putting down the film for not being more conventional. Sometimes it is difficult to put aside expectations of what one wants a film to be in favor of what the actual film on the screen is. "The Grandmaster" is, in fact, brilliantly edited. Wong is, if nothing else, a perfectionist in taking years to mold his assembled footage into his own personal rhythmic poem, idiosyncratically emphasizing downbeats and rests as precise as a great composer. What you see here is Wong Kar-wai's personal vision, take it or leave it. I wouldn't change a frame, or a single edit. It strikes me as a perfect diamond by this exceptional, if eccentric, cinema artist.

I loved it. Can't wait to see it.

[EephusPitch · 7/10 · 4 September 2013]

I, of course, saw the truncated version of this film, with half an hour lopped off for the benefit of us guilo who can't be expected to sit through a two hour movie with subtitles. What I saw was, in a very quiet, Wong Kar-wai understated way, entirely spectacular.

In this film, Wong has uncharacteristically spun a fairly straightforward, conventional narrative: we see Ip Man stating his case to unify the divided martial arts worlds of the North and South, we see Gong Er defeating him to avenge her family's honor, we see the disruption of the martial arts' world brought about by the Japanese occupation, we see the protagonists' exile in Hong Kong, and we see the differing paths taken by Ip and Gong. Reading the reviews here, I fail to grasp why people can't seem to figure out the structure; heaven forfend that these people are exposed to Ashes of Time or 2046: their brains might hemorrhage!

Within this simple (for Wong Kar-wai) structure, the details are all simply ravishing. Tony Leung Chiu Wai plays Ip Man as the ultimate stoic; he's jowly, and his face rarely changes no matter the circumstances in which he finds himself. Every so often he will allow himself that devilish twinkle in the eye, the slight suggestion of a smile. Zhang Ziyi does an excellent job with her role as Gong Er, humanizing a rather arrogant, humorless character who has made huge sacrifices in the name of honor. Yuen Wo Ping's fight choreography is typically stellar, maybe some of his best. And Phillipe Le Sourd's cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, colder perhaps than Christopher Doyle's classic camera work on Wong's films, but that is a function of the colder climate, both meteorological and emotional, of this movie.

Now, when am I going to get a chance to see this film? I feel like there's half an hour missing from my life.

Casey's Movie Mania: THE GRANDMASTER (2013)

[caseymoviemania · 5/10 · 21 April 2013]

Wong Kar-Wai's 10 years-in-the-making of the so-called Ip Man biopic is exquisitely photographed and blessed with some dazzling fight choreography, but THE GRANDMASTER is mostly a scattershot mess of unfocused direction.

When director Wong Kar-Wai first announced the project way back in 2002, I bet a lot of die-hard fans are eager to see how the critically-acclaimed art-house director is going to do a big-screen treatment of the legendary Ip Man. Fast forward to 2013 (after a string of delays and whatnot), THE GRANDMASTER has came and gone with mostly favorable reviews and successful box office runs. However, after finally watching it, I must say that THE GRANDMASTER turns out to be an overrated effort after all.

Likewise, Wong Kar-Wai is always meticulous when comes to distinctive visual flair. Philippe Le Sourd and Song Xiaofei's sumptuous cinematography is nice to look at, while beautifully framed Yuen Woo-Ping's fight choreography with such balletic mix of slow motion and various camera speeds. The rest of the technical credits are equally ace -- ranging from its elaborate production design to its detailed costume design. On the plus side, the first half is particularly engaging. As for the cast, Zhang Ziyi excels the most as the hotheaded, yet emotionally frustrating Gong Er.

The second half is hastily stitched together, while burdened by terribly inconsistent pace. It's understandable that Wong Kar-Wai's movie is always fragmented but this time, THE GRANDMASTER is way uneven yet unfocused. Another biggest problem here is the sudden change of focus from narrating Ip Man story to Gong Er story. If that's not insulting enough, the introduction of Chang Chen's The Razor character feels vague and needless altogether. Apart from Zhang Ziyi's exceptional performance, it's rather surprising to see the usually-reliable Tony Leung Chiu-Wai doesn't impress much as Ip Man. Although he is charismatic enough, he fails to expand his Ip Man character with a satisfying emotional center other than looking cool or broods a lot. Popular Korean actress Song Hye-Kyo is sadly neglected in a thankless role (thanks to Wong Kar-Wai for cutting off most of her scenes in the editing room) as Ip Man's wife, Zhang Yongcheng.

It's quite sad to see what could have been another classic Wong Kar-Wai movie-in-the-making turns out to be a disappointment. Strictly for die-hard fans.

http://caseymoviemania.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-grandmaster-2013.html

HK Auteur Review - The Grandmaster by Wong Kar Wai 一代宗師

[hkauteur · 9/10 · 14 June 2013]

Set in 1940s Fushan, Canton province, the martial arts community, lead by Gong Yutian from the north, is retiring and holds a challenge to select an heir to bring southern martial arts to the north. The southern community elects Ip Man, the shining newcomer, up for the challenge. Ip Man develops a friendship with Gong's daughter, Gong Er. The story crosses two decades as Ip Man and Gong Er stand the tests of life. The Japanese Army invasion of Fushan forces Ip Man into poverty and he resettles in Hong Kong. A mutiny within the Gong family sets Gong Er on a quest for revenge. In a time where age-old tradition is being replaced with modernity, how much can one uphold their principles? Who will pass on their lineage?

Who takes 14 years to make a movie? Wong Kar Wai is truly one-of-a-kind. He's the only filmmaker who can take unlimited time with financial support (the backers who most likely will lose their investment) and a team that is willing to plunge to the depths with him. It shows in his work.

Tony Leung's Ip Man is portrayed akin to a normal gentleman. I'm the biggest Donnie Yen fan in the world and as good as he was playing a dramatized version of Ip Man, Tony Leung's scholar-like image is closer to who Ip Man is in real life. On the kung fu side, Leung is not Donnie Yen but achieves the necessary physicality and fights more convincingly than the quick editing suggests. It makes me rethink how the actual Ip Man may have physically expressed himself, and I doubt he would have fought as aggressively as displayed in Donnie Yen's version.

This may be the best Zhang Ziyi role yet. She's never been more likable in any other role I have ever seen her in than here. Gong Er is the film's most relatable character, carries the most pathos and energizes the film by providing the audience someone to root for. When she fights, the stakes are high. There is a somewhat of a battle between fact and fiction within the film's construct. It's almost as if Gong Er, a fictitious character representing tradition, brings the traditional tropes of what one may expect from a martial arts film. While Ip Man, on the other hand, is married to historical fact and delivering the film's message.

The fights are filmed tightly, but for a reason. Wong Kar Wai is interested in the details of the movements: the little twists, nudges and arcs where one gathers power that are all specific to each style of Chinese martial arts. For people who are familiar with the basic concepts of Wing Chun, Baqua, Xingyi and Baijquan, it's quite the rare visual treat as bigger movements usually bold better for on screen fight choreography. For those who are not familiar, fear not! There is a sequence where the film presents these different styles. The over-saturation of Ip Man films really has limited the creativity to presenting Wing Chun as a martial art. It's safe to say most audiences know what Wing Chun looks like now.

It sounds as though there are a lot of qualifiers for one to understand the film. The world of the film exists within the martial arts community of an older time, where people lived with their own set of rules and traditions. Wong Kar Wai is very interested in presenting these traditions, and similar to how he's filming the action, it's like he's trying to keep a record of it. Characters speak in idioms with multiple subtext underneath (as martial artists do). That's a noble effort, but it may prove difficult for English speaking audiences.

A detail I noticed between the early promotional posters to the actual movie poster was that the early ones listed the film's title as The Grandmasters and the actual movie poster's title is named The Grandmaster. It makes me speculate that there probably was a story decision amongst the creative team whether the story should be solely focus on Ip Man or whether it should be about all three of the masters together. That was precisely what the narrative needed to decide on. Whether if I'm right or not, this is a case of a film that clearly has shot too much footage and was forced to be cut down upon its due date. The first cut was reportedly 4 hours and this really came apparent to me upon reflecting about the film. There seems to be a lot lost on the editing floor and unwillingly creates gaps in the narrative.

There is much to love about The Grandmaster. It is not a martial arts movie in the traditional sense in where its conflicts are solved by fighting. No, this is a story about legacy. It's about the deeply embedded Chinese Confucian value of improving the quality of life for future generations by passing on our culture and heritage responsibly. Every character in the film is driven by this single motivation and each take it to different places. To quote a line from the film, (I'm paraphrasing) "A martial artist's biggest enemy is life itself." Ip Man is a grandmaster not because of his physical prowess, but because he stood up to life (which was quite tragic) and kept to his grand vision of spreading Wing Chun. I really love the fact that someone made a film about this.

That's what ultimately won me over about The Grandmaster. It had a lot of heart, in how the film was made, it's microscopic attention to detail and in it's message. It maybe esoteric, and even downright alienating to some viewers, but the rewards are worth the effort!

Cool but nothing special

[alansabljakovic-39044 · 6/10 · 27 March 2020]

It was fun watching Wong doing action but this didn't do much for me. I enjoyed it but it hardly kept my attention. I prefer Ip Man but if you are fan of martial arts and Wong then you should check this one too.

Visually Stunning

[robert-edquist · 5/10 · 2 April 2021]

Extremely beautiful in places, gorgeous to look at, but it can't conceal the haphazard story that results in a hard to follow and uninvolving movie.

The Three Flows

[tedg · 16 August 2014]

I've been in training of a sort and unable to view serious movies, so it was difficult to arrange for this, and the anticipation built. Now I regret not having prepared better.

Filmmaking for me is calligraphy on water.

A filmmaker's art can be in the shape of what is written. Nolan, for example does well with this. It can be in how it is written. Kurosawa and Wells are good examples.

Or it can be in the nature of the *brush,* the instrument of capture itself.

Kae Wai Wong is the only living filmmaker that works in all three simultaneously.

So far as the story, I was lost much of the time. This clearly was made for a Chinese audience who would know the history and characters — and who would appreciate important regional differences. The unrolling was slightly non-linear but that was not a hindrance. Nevertheless, the three stories had power: a meditation on soulmates, a tragedy of lost/stolen tradition, an implicit history of cinematic fight styles. These are indeed treated as if they are fluid flows, only partly captured and disturbed by the looking. Some of the shifts from realistic to formalized (not unlike Herzog) underscore this.

Among the various threads on screen, the love story was what engaged me. Power in its restraint. A sort of noble but incomplete joy in the tragedy. Waiting to say little. Alone. The nature of the tragedy has so many ambiguous overtones it bleeds into an open life, which I presume to be a requisite for any of his films.

Among the threads behind the camera, I found the strokes here to be novel. This is film about traditions being merged to create power, a power incidentally that spawned a choreographic tradition in cinema. It seems as if the partnership with the new cinematographer (after the rich relationship with Chris Doyle), is based on moving from one *style* to another.

We have a variety of cinematic perspectives, many of which are beautiful. But the point seems to be the transitions one to another, the movement from one world-view to another. Lyrical vision, always expanded vision. Slow eye jazz. Experimental rhythms. Typical to this filmmaker is a reference to this: the ultimate fight scene is photographed with four perspectives, each with a unique style. *Behind* is a train that starts and by the end of the fight (and causing the end) it is racing. The effect is amazing.

I am used to the patterns he used with Doyle, whose choppiness clipped Kar Wai's meditations. Doyle's drifting complemented Kar Wai's fixed meditations. Now, it seems he has a new worthy collaborator, a partner in exploring new mixes, new expressions. I don't know this fellow well, but of course have seen his work. From how well the thing is assembled, I imagine they have shot a 20 hour movie.

At all three layers, he references dynamic water.

Rating: 3

Beautifully shot,but...

[david_castillo7 · 6/10 · 23 April 2021]

This movie was beautifully shot, but as an spectator, something is off in the film. I wished to be more specific because that would mean my knowledge about the subject would pay my bills. And it doesn't, since it is always me paying to watch instead.

Anyhow, let's throw a guess or three just in case anybody about to watch this movie accidentally is reading this. It will be short: To me it might be something in the script or even in the editing. There is something in the rythm that takes me out of the story. It might be too many long fights because it had to be so hard for the editora to choose among so many beautiful and artistic looking images. It might be the script where conversations might have been too simple, predictable or even not realistic (I am no Chinese,so what do I know). It might have been that since it was shot in such a long time, the cinematographers or even the director lost the inmediate feeling, the flow in the future cuts of the product they were making.

So there are the three guesses as an spectator. I really wanted to love this movie because on paper and being a fan of many of the people here involved, this promised to be greater than I felt while watching it. But then, maybe my expectations made me misjudge (is that even a word in English?) this piece of art. So who knows,maybe it is even my fault. Sorry for that.

Visually Attractive Mess of a Story

[AndyP8 · 7/10 · 2 August 2020]

Beautifully cinematography.....minus the multitude of slow motion shots that appear to be filmed at 20fps.

The film's biggest flaw is the completely befuddled storyline. The movie is clearly supposed to be about The Grandmaster (Ip Man) but there's virtually no development to his character, not to mention the second half of the movie is about his female rival, Gong, who essentially overtakes him as the main character. You learn about her background and life and future and have sympathy for her etc.....and then The Grandmaster just kind of makes an appearance at the end and is the exact same person from the beginning so I really dont know what the Director was thinking.....especially considering the apparent fact that this movie spent 10 years in production.

Regardless, it's well worth watching. In addition to it looking very nice, I appreciated the pacing and attention to displays of emotion that contrasted the fight scenes. Ultimately it held my attention throughout the duration of the film. It'd be nice if there was a spin-off about Gong. Her character was by far the most interesting aspect of this film.

I award it a 68.5%

One for the Cinema Aficionados!

[spookyrat1 · 6/10 · 27 September 2019]

The Grandmaster has beautiful production values and takes a long, languid observation at its subject, but arguably also stands as an example of the failings of some productions that are just too long in their making for their own good.

It's a film that is poeticly stylised in its visual appearance and dialogue (especially that of Ip man and Gong Er). 90% of the scenes are in close-up or extreme close-up, with dark borders and only the subjects' faces illuminated. It is undoubtedly an interesting look, that many will appreciate for its aesthetic beauty, but plenty of others (such as this writer) will find suffocatingly cloying after awhile, as the film progresses with little visual variety occurring.

The story is fascinating, but by now much of it is relatively well-known due to other films on Ip man's life being made, completed and exhibited, during the decade or so this film took to finish. There is nothing really new in the story, so perhaps in an effort to freshen things up, director Wong Kar-wai rather oddly changes tack in the second half. He suddenly switches from the Ip man perspective (and arguably excessive first person narration) we've had so far and then we are delivered two sub stories (one relatively short and one much longer) about supporting characters with their own narration, one of which doesn't even involve Ip man. To me, it felt like unnecessary, distractive padding of the main storyline. The converse of this was that despite the promotion of the film as about the man who trained Bruce Lee, the latter barely features and then only briefly right at the end, as a young high achieving student.

I freely admit, that I may have felt more positive about this film if it had been released at least 5 to 6 years earlier than it was and then focused more on the central character, rather than going walkabout for long periods with other "less important" characters. For that accountability must lie, with the talented but eccentric director Wong Kar-wai.

The more philosophical side of Ip Man

[infernalaffairs1980 · 7/10 · 11 May 2014]

Director - Kar Wai Wong Starring - Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Ziyi Zhang The Grandmaster is a film about Ip Man, a master of Wing Chun and the teacher of one of the world's greatest and best known martial artists, Bruce Lee. However, do not expect to see Mr Lee, there is only the merest mention of his name in the final moments of the film.

Also, do not expect a movie chock full of action; although there are obviously fight scenes, most are short, bloodless and at times just there to showcase the amazing martial arts styles.

There has been a previous film about Ip Man, entitled, surprisingly, Ip Man (2008) and starring Donnie Yen. Where that film was more action (presumably to capitalise on Yen's ability), this is more subdued and reflects on the history of not only Ip Man, but the essence of Kung Fu, in particular the style of Wing Chun. The script is littered with wise sayings and philosophical teachings giving the impression that The Grandmaster wants to delve behind the fighting and be driven by the characters.

In Tony Leung the film has a strong lead. He exudes charm and is convincing in his role as a Wing Chun master (Leung is better known for his dark and brooding roles in films such as Infernal Affairs and In the Mood for Love). He stars alongside Ziyi Zhang as Gong Er, the daughter of another Grandmaster who has a love/hate relationship with Leung's Ip Man. Zhang is beautiful and graceful, the perfect ice maiden. However it is this very quality that sometimes makes it hard for the audience to fully sympathise with her character; her facial expressions rarely go beyond a steely stare. Given she is part of the film's more sentimental story lines, it is hard for the viewer to truly understand what is going on, especially in the dialogue free parts.

Unlike the previously mentioned Ip Man, this film spans a much longer time-line, from 1936 China to Hong Kong in the 50s. The Second Sino-Japanese War, which is central to Yen's film, is a small section which is only there to show us why Ip Man leaves China in the first place. Indeed large blocks of text flash up thorough out the picture to give us information and remind the audience that this all really happened.

The film is beautifully shot; Kar Wai Wong uses the elements to dazzling effect. Snow, rain, blossom, steam... all are used to create a wondrous sight and visually stunning pieces (the sequence at the train station is a perfect example). The white plains of Northern China, described as harsh by characters, are nothing short of breath taking under his direction.

If you want a film that gives us an Ip Man of action, then I highly recommend Donnie Yen's 2008 movie. However if you prefer a more character driven and thoughtful piece, then this will be more than satisfying.

Rating - 7/10

Under-appreciated Gem, more Arts House than Action

[CelluloidDog · 9/10 · 28 October 2014]

The most under-appreciated films usually emerge later as gems, often 10, 20 or even 50 years later. For example, Citizen Kane didn't win an Academy Award but 20 years later, it was considered one of the greatest films made. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) was a critically acclaimed film when released but is really considered more of a gem today than 30-40 years ago. Like fine wine, films get better as they age. Once Upon in the West (1968) when released was celebrated in Europe but panned in the US. Twenty years alter, it is considered one of the greatest films ever made. The Grandmaster comes very close to these films.

The three reasons this film is panned: 1) People want action, the figure Ip Man represents action and this film breaks from traditional kung fu movies but in the same vein as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In essence, it is just as good as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There is plenty of action but martial arts fans want Jet Li, Donnie Yen or Michelle Yeoh. Hence, they will never give this film an 8, 9 or 10. Action is great, but it's second-rate to the true martial artist fan. 2), People find it complex. The plot is quite simple, really. I suspect it's more about reading prose and not realizing it's poetry. Plot is about Ip Man rising to the best in the South and to be challenged by the northern martial artists but war stops everything. half of the movie is about tradition and honor, not about martial arts. Definitely not about good guy beats up bad guy which draws most people's attention and praise. 3) Ip Man and Gong Er fall in a type of forbidden, unrequited love. It's bounded more by cultural beliefs than personal beliefs. But to many, this subplot slows or kills the action plot. But love isn't complicated, or at least we shouldn't see it that way.

On another final note, this film isn't about confrontation between the protagonist and antagonist. Rather, Ip Man doesn't really have an opposing challenge. His challenges are friends, as real martial artists become friends, as mentioned. They test each others' skills and build respect for each other, much like the test fight with Razor. It is the pretenders who fight, like Ma San. It is about honor and respect, not about violence.

Movie fans who want a real martial artist star will prefer Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008) which is artistically almost as good a film. In contrast, The Grandmaster is better written, better acted and better cinematography, but Ip Man with Donnie Yen has better fighting scenes. Keep in mind, Bruce Lee never made great films, they were rather B type films but people love his iconic charisma. Many will like the film for the star, not the quality.

So like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film is mystical and really, martial arts is more a scenic subplot into a man and his world. Or what director Kar Wai Wong intended. Regardless, a question is that should one pan a film because of what it isn't? Or should one celebrate a film for what it is? A parent celebrates and loves each child, regardless of how different. How can we celebrate this film?

1. It's slow but that gives a chance to watch the direction and cinematography which is exquisite. One doesn't rush through The Louvre, but savors the moment. It's quite masterful and poetic. 2. The screenplay and script. Brilliantly done. The dialogue is simple in appearance but every other line has a double meaning. Not since Once Upon a Time in the West has a simple dialogue taken on so many directions. The viewer has to focus on the words and what they mean. 3. There is beautiful scenes, significant cultural symbolism but it is broken down simplistically, most of the symbolism is cultural. It's not hard to understand, just place yourself in another world. It's not a simplistic film like Rocky. Quite the opposite but yet the plot is quite simple, if you realize it's not just about kung fu. Watching Master Gong Yutian practice in the snowy garden was magnificent. The brothel scenes with the martial artists was surprisingly a wealth of characters, costumes and sets. 4. Acting is strong with Ziyi Zhang leading and maybe overshadowing Tony Chiu Wai Leung. To some, that's not sensible: why not a film to showcase Donnie Yen with real moves? Bu Donnie isn't as somber an actor. We see the pain and modesty of Ip Man through Tony Chiu Wai Leung. The plain expressiveness of the actors casts a shadow over the difficult history, the winter months as Ip Man narrates. Ziyi represents the forbidden martial arts, the family secrets, the traditional view of outsiders. Hence she has an important symbolism. Ip Man represents the new, the invention of Bruce Lee and exposure of Wing Chun to the world.

The ending was slightly out of place given the poetry of the film. We didn't need Ip Man to give his final quote, although it was snappy, it was out of place. Perhaps, just a fade from the photo shoot with the young Bruce Lee.

Just watch and appreciate artistic quality. Real martial arts fans will appreciate the descriptions and dialog over different styles of martial arts. This film won't be really in a Top 100 list of greatest films, but it comes close and should be in a top 250-500 list of great films. Or one of the 50 best films of the decade. A gem. It just isn't a traditional martial arts fan film, rather an Arts House film.

I'm not sure whether to give this film a 8.5, 9, 9.5…but seeing the relatively IMDb scores (6.5 at this time), I'm boosting it to its rightful place.

Profoundly artistic but not very martial

[kluseba · 7/10 · 16 October 2017]

Let's get one thing straight. This movie isn't historically accurate. It is much more a movie about the relationship between a grandmaster and his respected opponent's daughter than a biography of Ip Man. That being said, if you know that's what the movie is going to be, it isn't a bad film after all. There have been countless movies about Ip Man and it's refreshing to get something else than more worship for a historical character whose legacy is bigger than the character really was. I'm not saying Ip Man wasn't a fascinating character with a strong moral compass who had an important influence on martial arts cultures, but after Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Ip Man 3, The Legend is Born - Ip Man, Ip Man: The Final Fight and The Legend of Bruce Lee, the world doesn't need another blockbuster that tells us what great guy he was.

The problem of this movie is something completely different. It has a shallow story partially based on fiction and partially based on facts that could be described in four sentences. Southern grandmaster starts to care about Northern grandmaster's daughter despite being married. Northern heir apparent collaborates with Japanese invaders and kills his master. Northern grandmaster's daughter vows to take revenge instead of getting married, having children and teaching martial arts. After getting her revenge, she meets the Northern grandmaster in exile and they talk about what could or couldn't have been if fate had been gentler to them.

Wong Kar-Wai's movies always had a slow and philosophical touch but they had a mysterious and even slightly supernatural touch that made Ashes of Time so profound and 2046 so dreamy. The Grandmaster is slow and philosophical but is missing the unique atmosphere and content of the other two movies. If the film were seventy-five minutes long without unnecessary flashbacks and side stories, it would be a very good movie. Clocking in around two hours, depending on which of the versions you might have come across, this movie loses momentum and turns out being slightly above average.

The fact that this movie is still slightly above average and not a complete disappointment is related to three reasons. First of all, the movie's cinematography is gorgeous. Images and words are carefully chosen, the change of seasons and weather is portrayed perfectly and the fight scenes are particularly elegant and almost poetic by honouring the essence of the wu xia genre. The director might at times overuse the natural symbols and the slow-motion camera effects but these elements are still beautiful to watch. Secondly, the movie has a slightly gloomy atmosphere from start to finish that keeps it together despite the at times random time-line. The film shows us examples of resilience despite severe hardship. On the other side, the movie also keeps a different message for us: you have to see beyond the boundaries to become who you deserve to be. Thirdly, the acting performances are solid. Tony Leung is authentic as calm and wise grandmaster who still has his minor flaws and weaknesses. I really liked his balanced portrait of the character which is a welcome change in comparison to the numerous movies worshipping Ip Man. The most stunning actress is Zhang Ziyi in this film. She convinces as ambitious, proud and smart young woman who progressively becomes bitter, nostalgic and tired. This gradual transformation is absolutely haunting to watch and would have been even more efficient without the use of flashbacks. That being said, it's difficult to escape her genuinely beautiful and elegant appearance on screen which makes the character's fate even gloomier. The fight scenes in the movie are very poetic but so are Zhang Ziyi's costumes, face and movements and she remains credible as her father's skilled avenger. Nobody could have played this role better than her.

In the end, if you are familiar with Wong Kar-Wai philosophical and poetic wu xia movies, you will also appreciate The Grandmaster. The acting performances are very good, the cinematography is beautiful and the movie has a gloomy vibe while still delivering a hopeful message. If you are looking for a historically accurate portrait of Ip Man or if you are expecting a vivid martial arts flick as the movies starring Donnie Yen, you might not get what you want. In the end, this is a martial arts movie that really focuses on the second part of its expression: arts.

A focus misplaced. Lost opportunity for a film on a martial arts icon.

[taooftri · 2/10 · 15 February 2013]

Sadly speaking, "The Grandmaster" does not get a grand score from me.

Before this film, 3 movies have been made about Ip Man, with the first two by Donnie Yen. Like it or not, first movers always have an advantage. The prequel of Ip Man - "A Legeng is Born - Ip Man" - did pretty well, featuring a Wing Chun practitioner Dennis To. But, in my opinion, all these 3 movies did not sufficiently capture aspects of the Man's life stories that many fans are looking for - his philosophy about Wing Chun, how he took up Wing Chun, and, of course, his mentor-ship of Bruce Lee.

"The Grandmaster", in my opinion, missed this golden opportunity to satisfy the thirst of martial arts fans on these aspects.

For one, I am surprised to see that the script chose to focus on something other than Wing Chun - the so-called "64 forms", a kind of martial art - and revolve around the relationship between Man and Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), with a rather strange majority of screen time placed on Er. In fact, I strongly suspected that the "Grandmaster" in the film is actually Gong Er and not Ip Man (and perhaps this film will be so successful in this respect that there will be another film on Gong Er?)

I believe audeince is in for the story behind Ip Man, Wing Chun and Bruce Lee, not "64 forms" or the fictitious Gong Er. It is clearly focus misplaced.

The fighting sequence is a major disappointment as well. Fighting sequence is barely 5 moves in total, with the camera zooming in on to the hands or legs and, which is my pet peeve, the overuse of slow motion and special effects that obscure the real beauty of the moves. I am not sure whether these effects are specially chosen to mask the fact that Tony Leung is not a martial artist, but applying these on veterans such as Zhang Ziyi - who has learn some martial arts before - is a waste of talents.

Taking a step back, I suspect that the producers and director seemed to want to break away from the proved formula of story-telling about Ip Man and Wing Chun, and took risk in the script and even cinematography. However, I see traces of Zhang Yimou in the technique, which I neither am opposed to nor strongly encouraged. However, I think the director OVERDID on the special and visual effects, because, in my opinion, he may have wanted every scene and frame to be visually stunning. While there are many scenes (including the special effects) that are indeed very captivating - e.g. those at the train station involving the duel of Gong Er and San - these effects quickly became a major muddling distraction for me, to an extent that I felt like the film has overrun in length in its appeal to audience.

I prefer a film that takes care of its basics well, before venturing into the visual/special effects (what I consider icing on the cake). In any story involving Ip Man, the basics should be the man, his family, his time and his Wing Chun.

Finally, the film applied another technique often seen in Zhang Yimou's films - the somewhat emotionally derived script with somewhat wooden expressions on its casts, with a hope to create an ambiance of mystery and helplessness (e.g. in a time that saw China fell into the hands of the Japanese during World War II). Personally, this technique is a waste of the acting talents of the likes of Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi.

"The Grandmaster" is clearly a focus misplaced.

I had higher hopes for anything Ip Man and Wing Chun.

Dazzling, stylish and worth waiting for!

[amit_imt2002 · 8/10 · 19 March 2013]

What a beautiful film this is, there is not a single shot that does not ravish your senses.This is a Wong Kar Wai film about Ip Man, the almost mythical kung fu master who taught Bruce Lee for some time. Films on Ip Man have become a mini cottage industry but Wong Kar Wai looks at not just Ip but the culture that he grew up in and its stalwarts.Every once in a while a kung fu film breaks out of its confines of core Asian patronage and garners a worldwide fan following. Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Zhang Yamou's The Hero became an international sensations,The Grandmaster should join that small list.

The Grandmaster has been in the making for more than 12 years and is Wong Kar Wai's labour of love.Here he collaborates with his favourite Tony Leung and castes him, rather improbably, as a kung fu master.The film looks at his early years till he set up his martial arts school in Hong Kong.We see him as a boy enrolling at a kung fu school in Foshan,China and become the last student of a legendary teacher. He gets his shot at fame when a famous grandmaster from north, Gong Yotian, who is retiring, comes south and wants to appoint a successor who will carry his tradition forward and integrate the north and south schools.The southerners choose Ip as their man but he must prove his mettle in front of the old master.They face off in an encounter that is all choreography and zero fighting.Ip man passes the acid test of being a man of ideas and not just skill.This is a wonderful scene which sets the tone that this will not be another action packed martial arts film.

Gong Er fights to honour her fathers name. The grandmasters daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi, in her last martial arts film!)has come with him and she has her own way of looking at things.She is hot blooded with a mind of her own and a unique penchant for interpreting her fathers words to drive her individuality.She challenges Ip to a dual and this sets up another amazing scene.They fight but it might as well be lovemaking.They float up in the air and circle each other like dancers more than fierce combatants.The memory of this dual will remain with them for a long time and Wong will show it to us again, this time with their noses brushing lightly.They part with great respect for each other.

Some of these scenes are staged in opulent gilded bordello's with elaborate opera performances. Ip's wife loves opera and he takes her to a bordello, and when Gong comes to meet her father and see his fight with Ip she asks him in wonder "Are you really going to take your daughter to a bordello?"He replies like the wise old master that he is.The winds of change in Chinese society were blowing long before the revolution.

The film follows the story of Gong and Ip as they go their separate ways. Both are challenged by life and face up to them in unique ways by digging into their roots of being disciplined kung fu students. Gong symbolizes female progress in a patriarchal society as well as the tragedy of eternal loss of knowledge because she vows never to teach her art after her father is betrayed by his protégée. This film was originally 4 hours long and Wong sacrifices a lot of detail to distill it into its current 130 mins length.As a result some strands of the narrative suffer, but each scene is so well constructed that we are willing to just soak in the atmosphere.

The master and his students, Bruce Lee was one of them. This is undoubtedly a new kind of martial arts film, that looks closely at the "art" part of martial art, something that has its roots in Confucius's way of ancient Chinese life. Wong is more interested in the roots of kung fu and its place in Chinese history, especially in the first half of the 20th century when China underwent an overwhelming political and social change.While Wong's characters yearn for each other he perhaps yearns for a Chinese way of life that has been lost in the relentless pursuit of economic prosperity. Xi Fei's great film Woman of the Scented Lake also captured this change in Chinese society by using an ambitious rural businesswoman as its lens.

The cinematography is sublime, each shot dazzles us with its perfection.The way Phillipe le Sourd photographs portraits is interesting, using very shallow focus with most of the screen dark.This builds a special intimacy with the characters and serves as a window into their noble souls.The background music is another Wong trademark and in this film too it amplifies and underscores the action with great sophistication. Shigeru Umebayashi is in good form here but he does not have the opportunities of In the Mood for Love kind of grandstanding.The Grandmaster is a film for every lover of cinema, not just for martial arts aficionados, and its a great way to discover the work of a Grandmaster of cinema who inspired the likes of Tarantino.Every artist is also a philosopher and so are Wong and Ip Man.

not an action movie but a love story

[eric-18268 · 6/10 · 28 July 2018]

I saw this movie disappear from theaters in less than a week . it was advertised as a martial art action movie . actually it is a draggy love story of a man spending his life chasing his love . not what action movie goers expect .

Disrepectful to Master Ip

[ilikecats-1 · 1/10 · 12 April 2013]

I practice Wing Chun myself and I watched this movie with my master with great expectation. By now I think people are familiar with all the tricks the director gets - slow motion, close up, throwing in some classical music totally out-of-context, and closing the wandering plot with an abrupt ending that the director himself didn't understand. So, I don't even want to discuss the artisity about this film here. Kungfu-wise, well, let's just say my master and I would stick and be happy with Donnie Yan's series.

The reason I write this comment is that I feel the director has no respect at all to the person (Ip Man in this case) he tries to portrait. The way he makes up an extramarital affair with the imaginary Gong Er and force-feeds it to the audience is a total self-indulgence and egoist move. I wonder how Ip Man and his wife would have felt should they ever knew this. While it is common to spice things up for a movie about historical figure, it doesn't work and is definitely not appropriate to make up such story for a humble kungfu master in Chinese culture.

I hope with this movie, people could finally see how superficial and pretentious this director is. There is a reason he tries to procrastinates the release date of this movie (for how many years?), as he knows what a crap it is, especially after Donnie Yan's at-least authentic and respectful version.