‘Grandmaster’ honors martial artist’s legacy
If you’re not deep into martial arts cinema, you might have walked by the various movies titled “Ip Man” on the DVD shelves and mistaken them for Chinese or Japanese sci-fi or fantasy.
But the legendary Ip Man (also spelled Yip Man) is no invention of screenwriters. He’s a famous figure in Chinese martial arts, guardian of several martial arts styles and the man who taught Bruce Lee his chops.
“The Grandmaster” is the latest version of his life to make it onto the screen, a regal, majestic and downright arty take on this teacher, champion and philosopher whose life spanned much of the 20th century. Co-writer/director Wong Kar Wai (“Chungking Express,” “In the Mood for Love”) goes for stately in this slow-moving action epic, sometimes at the expense of coherence and always in preference to pacing.
Fortunately, he has his muse, the great Tony Leung (“In the Mood for Love,” “Hero,” “Red Cliff”) in the title role, a magnetic screen presence who suggests mystery, romance and humility with just a faint, cryptic smile. His stillness seems just right for a character who can lick any 10 guys in the room and knows it.
The story follows Ip Man through World War II, when much of China was under siege by the Japanese, but whose martial arts aristocracy was still fretting over the divisions between assorted “Northern” styles and Ip Man’s simple, lethal “Southern” style.
The grandmaster of the North (Wang Qingxiang) is about to pass his mantle on to a protege (Zhang Jin). But Ma San is a hothead, which makes Master Gong regret that he cannot pass the leadership to his daughter, played by the serene and stunningly beautiful Zhang Ziyi (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). Gong Er has mastered both the “64 hand” positions of her father’s Kung Fu, and the philosophy behind it.
Wong Kar Wai and his cinematographer – Philipe Le Sourd of “Seven Pounds” and “A Good Year” – shoot wondrous brawls in rain and snow, a funeral procession by a frozen lake, a bloodless beat-down in an elaborate brothel. It’s a gorgeous looking film (shortened for American release), whatever its other virtues and failings.
The story, touching on World War II, skipping over the Chinese Civil War and glossing over Ip Man’s reasons for fleeing to Hong Kong just as the communists took over the country, is more ambitious than streamlined. We lose track of Ip Man, here and there, to follow Gong Er’s sad, romantic story.
But it’s still a majestic version of a life story that merits this sort of treatment, at least within the world of martial arts. And the ageless Leung and Ziyi bring this stately, static film thrillingly to life just often enough to give Ip Man and his legacy his due.