Asian Movie Review: The Grandmaster (一代宗師, 2013)

A year or so before Donnie Yen's "Ip Man" came out there were news stories that there were actually two films about Wing Chun master Yip Man in production at the same time. One was Donnie's version, and the other one was by Wong Kar Wai,  the famed artistic filmmaker who brought us modern day classics "Chungking Express", "In the Mood for Love" and "2046".  For an acclaimed arthouse director like this,  a kungfu bio pic seemed like a strange match… especially starring a non-martial artist in the lead role,  Tony Leung Chiu Wah.   Well 5 years have gone by and Donnie Yen's Ip Man and Ip Man 2 have come and gone and finally Wong Kar Wai's film, with the English title "The Grandmaster" is finished and reached cinemas in HK and China.

I caught a screening opening night on an IMAX screen in TST.   The film features Leung and Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen (this may be the first time they've been on screen together since Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"?).   Zhang plays the daughter of the Northern martial arts grandmaster who passes his title to Yip, she inherited his Gong family Bagua Zhang fighting style while he passed his Xingyi Quan style to his ambitious male disciple (played by Max Zhang).. She doesn't accept that Yip Man and his Wing Chun are a worthy successor to her Gong family martial arts, including the legendary hidden move "Leaves over Flowers"  Chang plays a Baji Quan secret agent during the war.   All of them end up being economic and political refugees in Hong Kong in the 1950s once the Communists take over the Mainland.

Through the martial arts rivalry forms an unrequited, slowly smoldering relationship between Zhang Ziyi and Tony....   very Wong Kar Wai of course!    About half way through the movie I came to the realization that this is more like "In the Mood For Love" with Kung fu fight scenes than it is a bio pic about Yip Man.  Actually the film spends a lot of time covering Zhang Ziyi's character and her rivalry with Tony Leung and also her battle with Max Zhang's character over the decades the movie covers (from the 30's through the 50's).  And then there's Chang Chen.... who's secret agent role is actually quite tangential to the entire rest of the movie.     Which leads to the question: Why is he even in this movie? I may be making too many assumptions, but in contemplating an answer to that question, and preparing for this blog review - I have come to the conclusion that Wong Kar Wai significantly changed his mind about what this film would be at least once or twice during the 6 year journey making this film.If you look at some of the early marketing materials, the English title is " The Grandmasters" -- as in a film about various martial arts masters and their interactions over several decades in China and later Hong Kong.   With this in mind the story and plot choices actually makes a LOT more sense... its a story about multiple grandmasters of different styles of martial arts having rivalries.   But somewhere along the line he decided to call it " The Grandmaster" and focus the story through the eyes of Tony Leung's Yip Man character....  but I guess he really liked some of the other grandmasters' scenes so he left some of that in... Very confusing, but such is the genius of an acclaimed art house director like Wong Kar WaiConfusing plot choices aside,  I have to say the the film is very beautifully shot, with great costumes and scenery.... as you'd expect from Wong.     Also as a long time devote to the Chinese martial arts,  I have to say that this portion of the film is done very well.  I really liked that the film goes into the intricacies and differences of the martial arts schools (Xingyi vs Bagua vs Wing Chun vs Baiji, etc).   Yuen Woo Ping's martial arts direction is good as you'd expect.  Wire-fu exists in the film but is not used too much.... the martial arts presented is pretty legit and entertaining, especially if you've familiar with the different styles.  (I practiced Xingyi for a number of years and I watched the film with my good friend Brandon who was a top Bagua competitor back in the day)I give it a solid 8/10.  Except for some head scratching plot choices,  the film is beautifully made and the martial arts is well done.  Just be forewarned, this is not really an 'action movie'... if you're not familiar with WKW's stlye, you may find this movie slow and boring at points.