[four-star-rating]Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang[/four-star-rating]
Film snobs like to namedrop director Wong Kar-wai, the Chinese auteur who is considered a modern master. It’s because Wong has a distinct ability to make thrilling visuals that are also romantic and languid.
Wait – aren’t thrilling and languid the opposites of each other?
Well, observe the first Kung Fu fight sequence in The Grandmaster. In the pouring rain, water slowly twirls off of a fighter’s Panama hat as he spins to deliver a kick. His foot gently dances across the ground, stirring up a slough of neon puddles. Monks carefully close a gate as the bodies of fallen challengers fly past at literal breakneck speed.
Yes, Wong’s visuals are here in abundance – perhaps too much so for most audiences. The film possesses many static, pretty shots full of tension and poetry without a lot of direct storytelling.
The Grandmaster is another biography about the legend Ip Man, a brilliant Kung Fu teacher who taught Bruce Lee. Ip Man was famous for his simplified style called Wing Chun. He also lived through Japan’s brief colonization of Hong Kong and China’s debilitating depression as it adopted Communism. Ip Man’s life is one of China’s great modern myths and a frequent subject of film.
Wong usually creates stories of unrequited or difficult romance. (His gritty 1997 gay groundbreaker Happy Together is an example.) The Grandmaster is no exception. As Ip Man (Leung of Infernal Affairs) builds his reputation, he meets beautiful Gong Er (Zhang of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), a woman who would also be a Kung Fu master if her country weren’t so sexist. Ip Man is married, and Gong Er is trapped by gender and family duty. We see their relationship traverse decades of Chinese history.
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In his first foray into Kung Fu, Wong also shows how Ip Man integrated the teachings of other masters into his own martial arts. These comic fight sequences are some of the most joyous of the film.
However, Wong never quite brings all these elements together. The mix of Chinese culture, Kung Fu, opera, and comedy is often hard to follow. Some of the editing is disturbingly abrupt. Other scenes are achingly slow. On top of that, Wong’s film has a confusing chronology – jumping forward and leaping backward like a Kung Fu master who’s not sure which fight to join.
What makes The Grandmaster worth it? Wong is always visually intriguing, and his sense of romance is still deeply, emotionally effective. The final message of Chinese sexism, tradition, and thwarted love packs a punch.
In one scene, Gong Er – who is an expert at a rare type of Kung Fu – has to fight Ip Man for her father’s honor. It’s a beautiful dance of martial arts – half tango, half courtship. Gong Er at one point slowly floats over Ip Man, face-to-face, close enough to kiss.
In that moment – and throughout the film – we are left to ponder who the real grandmaster in their relationship was.
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