Reviewed by: STSH Date: 04/06/2021 Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: bkasten Date: 06/25/2014 Summary: Wonderful An unrequited love story that is more than just a visually pleasing art film--despite it's clear fantastical and impressionistic approach, it is a touchingly believable and painful story in a way that no other Wong film has been to this reviewer. And while it does harken back to Wong Kar-Wai's earlier works and In the Mood for Love and Ashes of Time to some degree, this film has it's own unique aesthetic. From hearing other comments in other places, this is clearly a polarizing film. Apparently people are comparing to Donnie Yen's Ip Man films and/or hoping to see more of Bruce Lee. And ironically of all the things in the film, the Bruce Lee part was quite silly and pandering, but it comprised no more than 90 seconds of the film. Almost equally ironically was the fact that the "fighting" in the film wasn't really all that important to the story--this isn't kung fu porn, nor is is an angry film like Donnie or Bruce films. This is a film that demands repeated viewings. Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 10/10/2013 Summary: so-so chopped version I saw the American Cut at the multiplex today with a handful of like-minded folks. I thought that Tony Leung was perfectly understated as Ip Man. Zhang Ziyi was masterful as Gong Er. This Weinstein version has a silly coda at the end that ruins the melancholy ending of the love story. I'm going to have to see the Chinese Cut, for sure.

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 08/25/2013 Summary: Incoherent and overblown Some time around the release of 2046, rumours began to swirl that Wong Kar-Wai's next project was to be a Bruce Lee biopic, which seemed like an unlikely project for the director. Well, 9 years is a long time, and since it appears to have been decided some time around 2008 that everybody in Hong Kong was going to make an Ip Man biopic, it's not too much of a surprise that WKW's next film (not counting the Blueberry thing, which I haven't seen) turned out to be a biopic of Bruce Lee's Wing Chun teacher instead... like every other martial arts film Hong Kong has produced in the past 5 years. THE GRANDMASTER (or GRANDMASTERS, depending on which poster you choose to believe) tells the story of Ip Man... or a story about Ip Man, anyway. One thing the various Ip Man biopics don't seem to have is any real consistency, so there's no way of knowing which - if any - actually resemble the real person's life story. Actually this film doesn't even tell an Ip Man story at all for most of the running time - the affairs of Zhang Ziyi's family are more prominent, and Ip Man is basically a side character in those events. Exactly what story the film really wants to tell is never very clear, with various lurches in time and location, and many events whose connection to the rest of the film is obscure. We don't really expect Wong Kar-Wai to present us with a tidy linear narrative, as his films are built much more out of "moments and moods", but THE GRANDMASTER doesn't even seem to deliver coherency there either... the tone is all over the place, and whatever themes he is attempting to address are completely obfuscated by the presentation. There's a lot of pretty shots of people looking forlorn - again, not exactly virgin territory for Wong Kar-Wai - but here it seems a little like the director didn't really know what to do so he just fell back to default shot choices... "Err, have a pretty girl crying, and some people moving about in the foreground in that sort of blurry-slomo-timelapse thing I do". Martial arts philosophy appears to be a theme, as you would expect in an Ip Man picture, but what exactly Wong Kar-Wai wants us to take away from the film is hard to say. The various 'grandmasters' spend lots of time speaking in metaphor and riddle, which all sounds quite profound, but doesn't seem to amount to much of a philosophy by the end of the film. Caveat: I watched a fan-subbed version. It's possible a less literal translation would be more accessible to non-Chinese speakers. There's some fight scenes, and Yuen Wo-Ping is present to make sure they have some panache, but they are largely spoilt in my view by two things - an overuse of self-indulgently aesthetic camera angles and editing, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai's lack of any real martial arts skills. LCW was an odd choice for the role of Ip Man... he is a fine actor, which I'm sure is useful, but he doesn't have an ounce of 'Grandmaster' in his bearing or demeanor. Zhang Ziyi's background as a dancer allows her to pass herself off as a graceful fighter with some conviction, but neither really fit the role in a way that will make it a memorable performance for them or a memorable interpretation for their characters. The film is certainly pretty, which is a given with Wong Kar-Wai I suppose, but it feels too much like style for styles sake, or because it's what is expected of him, than any attempt to use the camera to create a particular tone which matches the content. ASHES OF TIME could be accused of being gratuitous in its beauty, but it's a visual style that's married to a narrative style and a thematic content that it suits. Visuals match audio match dialogue match acting match editing = a work of art. THE GRANDMASTER feels more like an assemblage of Wong Kar-Wai's previous techniques and themes that have been randomly regurgitated at an inappropriate moment. The soundtrack by composer Shigeru Umebayashi is another weak link in the film, being far too overblown and melodramatic at times when it shouldn't be - when it becomes intrusive and distracting. I know I'm at odds with the world at large in thinking that IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE was a disappointment, and far from Wong Kar-Wai's best work. Perhaps the fact that I haven't really enjoyed a Wong Kar-Wai film since FALLEN ANGELS is simply evidence that my tastes and the director's have diverged... and continue to do so. I'm more inclined to believe that Wong Kar-Wai simply ran out of things to say some time around IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, and that the increasingly drawn out production and release schedules for his films are not the sign of a meticulous artisan striving for perfection, but simply an indication of how much random footage you have to shoot before you have anything you can assemble into a half-way coherent film when that's your approach to production and you don't have any real vision guiding you. Not recommended, though I suppose it's one of those films you'll have to see and make your own mind up about. Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 06/29/2013 Summary: Wong Kar-wai sets a high standard... Wong Kar-wai returns to cinemas with his biographical take on Wing Chun master Ip Man. Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays the lead role with Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen as rival masters in supporting fashion. The movie opens amid the shuffling of power within the martial arts community in Foshan. Gong Yutian (Wong Hing-Cheung), the designated leader of all the different schools, is retiring and needs to designate a successor to run the southern schools. Yutian’s hot headed disciple Ma San (John Zhang Zin), already chosen as the northern school head, believes anyone must beat him first before challenging his teacher. Yutian feels differently and Ma is sent packing back north after unnecessarily fighting and embarrassing his Sifu. Despite his relatively young age, Ip Man is chosen as the representative from the southern schools to vie for the leadership. As a test, Ip must beat three other teachers that represent the arts that Yutian is a master of, namely Bagua, Xingyi and Hung Gar. Passing this test, Ip is allowed to prove himself to Yutian, but their battle is more of philosophy and grace and straight hand to hand combat. Ip proves himself worthy, but Yutian’s daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) feels the need to vindicate the family’s art and take revenge for her father’s defeat. During their challenge match, a mental connection is established and Ip will spend the rest of his days trying to learn the secrets behind Gong Er’s unbeatable “64 Hands” technique. As time passes, the Second Sino-Japanese war breaks out and Ip is forced to flee to Hong Kong after Foshan is brutally occupied by Japanese troops. There he must again establish himself and his art, all while seeking Gong Er and her knowledge. Meanwhile, Ma San’s assault of his master forces Er to challenge him and take back the right to teach her family’s art. The two square off in a snowy train station, Ma San representing the Xingyi side and Er the Bagua side, the two arts that Yutian successfully merged into one. The battle leaves Er permanently wounded, and when Ip sees her again in Hong Kong many years later she has given up teaching and the martial arts world altogether. 1950s Hong Kong serves as the backdrop for the closing of the film, with different schools vying for control, including seemingly ruthless arts practiced by violent men. The Grandmaster is an absolutely wonderful film, merging not only fantastic and exciting fight scenes, but martial arts philosophy and the struggle that human emotion plays in this arena where emotion can sometimes be the most fatal attribute to have. Tony Leung and the undeservedly much maligned Zhang Ziyi are excellent in their respective roles. Their reportedly exhaustive training pays off in spades as both represent the arts they showcase without going over the top. Their understated love story is also done very well as you can feel the sense of regret and loss that can come with emotions that are never fully expressed until it is too late. In a return to form, Yuen Woo-ping’s fight choreography is amazing, and his ability to show the fluidity of internal forms is almost unrivaled. Although some may expect that a Wong-Kar-wai film may get mired in slow-moving, dialogue-driven scenes, there are so many quality action pieces that I never felt the pace slipping. This is coming from an unabashed Wong-Kar-wai fan, so opinions may differ. Stand out fight scenes for me include the homage to Bruce Lee’s pagoda level fights from the unfinished Game of Death and the challenge fight between Zhang Ziyi and John Zhang in the train station. Both are top notch and inspiring to watch. My only gripe with The Grandmaster is the amount of loose ends that accumulate by the end. As with all Wong Kar-wai films, there is a large amount of editing that is done before the final product is shown, and in this case he seems to have lost some key characters in the process. Chang Cheh plays “The Razor”, an agent/assassin for the Chinese government during the war who is a master of Baji(quan). He has a short scene with Zhang Ziyi and reappears again in Hong Kong, but only to showcase his art in a few devastating fight scenes. Other than that there he has no connection to the rest of the film. I imagine that in the original vision of the film he challenges Ip Man, but this never occurs in the version I saw. It leaves a somewhat sour taste as to what could have been. There is also a sub-plot involving Yutian’s martial art master brother that is never fully fleshed out and explained. These quibbles are minor setbacks in the grand scheme of things though, and as a whole it is an excellent film that deserves high-praise. Reviewer Score: 9