Stars: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Zhang Ziyi, Song Hye-kyo, Zhang Jin, Wang Qingxiang
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Cinematography, Costume)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars
The film is about the legendary Ip Man, who was a man who taught martial arts to multiple students, including most famously the actor Bruce Lee (who would go on to introduce martial arts to the western world). It's the sort of biopic you pray for-one about an important and interesting individual who has not been chronicled ad naseum by directors, though in this case, because I know next to nothing about him (aside from the brief bits that a Google search provided), I cannot vouch remotely for the film's authenticity.
The movie is not about Ip Man's relationship with Bruce Lee, but it isn't exactly an origin story either. We only briefly see a young Ip Man, at the beginning of the film during an extended fight sequence, but primarily we see Ip Man in his thirties to his fifties, all-the-while played by Tony Leung. One the opening fight is over, we then move into a period where Gong Yutian (Qingxiang), a martial arts master, is about to retire, and wants a geographically southern successor in addition to his son being the northern successor. Of course, considering he is the main character, after battling three different artists with very different styles, Ip Man is put forward as the potential successor before Gong Yutian competes with him in a battle of thoughts as much as actions. Ip Man succeeds, but later fails in a fight against Gong Yutian's daughter Gong Er (Ziyi) who is clearly meant to be his true successor, not her spoiled, less-talented brother Ma San (Jin).
Despite his married status, Ip Man and Gong Er maintain a flirtatious friendship for many years, and we watch as both of their lives change in ways that they did not expect. Ip Man goes through hell during the Second Sino-Japanese War, losing his home and family and eventually finds himself at the bottom rung of the ladder in Hong Kong, having to fight with a burgeoning population of martial arts "masters" in the city). Gong Er becomes a doctor, though we learn that she had at one point defeated her brother in an epic battle on a train station.
The film at that point takes a detour to show us a young Bruce Lee, and to try and refocus back on Ip Man, but the film is more about his relationship with Gong Er than the eventual source to his worldwide fame, and Gong Er's confession before her death (she becomes addicted to opium due to injuries sustained in her fight at the train) that she loves Ip Man is easily the climax of the film. The movie ends explaining Ip Man's impact to the world, and though there's a bit of a break between the first set of credits and the second (make sure not to be fooled there when you're leaving the theater), the final few minutes seems like way too much of a tag-on.
The film's great strength is its visual appeal. The movie looks spectacular, and the fight sequences are a a superb dance. This is not the same film that, say Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers are (sorry, I'm not super well-versed with Chinese martial arts cinema, so I don't have more recent touchstones)-it's a modern telling, and doesn't have room for as much embellishment, as it's trying to stay grounded in fact. Therefore, we get more focus on the movements than the high-flying acrobatics we associate with the resurgence of martial arts films in the past decade. The cinematography and score are both lyrical and poetic-when we get one snow-covered scene, it's so startlingly bright and real (we've been used to lantern glows and rain-soaked nights), Kar-Wai gets the impact of "this is going to be important" across right away.
The film's plot didn't carry me as much as it was supposed to, however. I'll admit that I didn't follow a good chunk of the film until it refocused on the love story, and while that is likely to do with my lack of knowledge surrounding martial arts, it still hurt my enjoyment of the film. When the film became about the love story and the lead performers, it became much easier to interact with the movie on a common ground level. The leads, both brimming with movie star confidence, looked excellent, and Ziyi in particular hasn't been this good in years.
Overall, I'm going with a middle-of-the-road three stars-this isn't going to set the cinematic world on-fire like Chungking Express did, but it's still a worthwhile trip to the cinema, and with the stunning exception of Instructions Not Included, is likely to be the highest-grossing foreign language film of the year.
What did you think of The Grandmaster? Where do you think this ranks in regard to Wong Kar-Wai's overall filmography? And with this film destined to hit at least $10 million domestically and Instructions likely to have hit $30-40, is this year going to see a renaissance of the foreign-language film in the States?
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