The story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee. Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San. The Grandmaster, as it was translated in English, is another epic Chinese film about the history of their martial arts (and not only that). We get to learn about their kung fu schools and organisations, how they took styles from one region of China to another, how they transmitted their knowledge and art usually to their sons or daughters. Then we get to see how it all changes through the Japanese occupation and the British one and how it all suffers, yet endures.<br/><br/>We see this all through the eyes of Yip Man (who is not a cross between a man and an yip, that's his name) who wants to becomes the holder of all Kung Fu techniques and is very close to doing so. He then falls for a woman, the daughter of a great martial master, but, of course them being Chinese, then cannot be together. They still love each other for decades, though.<br/><br/>So the history of one man, one country, one martial art, all in one movie. Unfortunately, the movie was probably aimed at a Chinese audience. The characters understand a lot from mere gestures, speak rarely and when they do, they do it in doubletalk and metaphor and innuendo. The crappy translation that I had didn't help either. So what I can say to you is that it looked like a great film, but I can't really say without a Chinese person next to me explaining the subtleties.<br/><br/>You can see some really nice fighting, with just the right amount of wire-fu to make it decent. Also some aspects of traditional Chinese culture can be glimpsed, but not really understood.<br/><br/>Bottom line: a multi chapter movie, two hours long, dramatic, subtle. It helps being Chinese to watch it. Very beautiful scenes, focused on details and slow motion, gestures and expressions. I wish I could, but I have this nagging feeling that I didn't quite get it, so in all conscience I cannot recommend something that I don't feel I understood. You have to be in the right mood to see it, that's certain, and to have a good translation of what they are saying is essential. I liked the movie but there were points where it felt kind of stretched. The movie is full of slo motions, I usually like slo-mos as they make it easier to see what is going on other wise martial arts sometimes is too fast to notice any kicks or punches. But this movie even shows people drinking tea & eating food in slow motion. I am pretty sure if that was removed they would have cut the length by at least 20 mins. I did like the cinematography and some scenes really feel as if they were shot using an SLR and will tempt you to put them as desktop wallpaper.<br/><br/>I like the story and the wisdom & philosophy discussed in the movie. Its not just kicks and punches but also about the culture, philosophy of kung fu and china in 1950s. I still love the Ip Man by Donnie Yen but this movie does add another dimension to Master Ip Man's personality. <br/><br/>If you are not extremely choosy about the movies you watch then do not miss this! The Grandmaster offers welcome relief from a moviegoing summer spent in sensory overload.
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295 weeks ago