The Grandmaster

2013 "In Martial Arts there is no right or wrong, only the last man standing."
6.6| 2h10m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 23 August 2013 Released
Producted By: Block 2 Pictures
Country: Hong Kong
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

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.

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Reviews

KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?
Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Paul Magne Haakonsen Wong Kar Wai usually make really great movies, typically some very offbeat dramas that sink into your conscious and then sticks with you. And while there are some great moments here and there in "The Grandmaster" (aka "Yi dai zong shi"), then the movie was nowhere near the usual complex and unique movies that Wong Kar Wai has previously directed.The story that Wong Kar Wai sets out to tell in "The Grandmaster" is about legendary Kung Fu master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee in the martial arts.If you expect a grand martial arts movie, then you will be sorely disappointed. "The Grandmaster" is sort of a very pointless mixture of martial arts and drama, that ultimately failed to deliver on both accounts. The martial arts sequences were visually impressive, but they didn't really help the movie's storyline to progress. And the drama was just too long-dragged and became too much and somewhat of a hindrance to the movie. And in overall, the movie is just kept in too dark hues and tones.What made this movie semi-watchable was a great performance by Tony Leung, one of the better actors of the Hong Kong cinema. Oddly enough, then it was as if Ziyi Zhang didn't fully put everything she had into her performance in this movie.Wong Kar Wai sets out to accomplish something grand with this movie, but swung and missed far, unfortunately. "The Grandmaster" is not really a memorable moment in Chinese cinema. And there are far better and more enjoyable movies about Ip Man available.
Jeremy Zhang I think The Grandmaster is the tribute to martial arts and it is a literary film. Obviously, it is not a story of a master or a story of one style of martial arts. It is the heritage and development of the martial arts of Hong Kong in the era. It also shows audiences the Chinese martial arts and what deep meaning they have. In the movie we saw the three main contents:1. IP man as a martial artist, he does not have a martial arts school and he only teaches people who he likes. Because he does not think learn martial arts likes to buy vegetables in market, he should thinking and take care;2. Gong leaves hometown and living in Hong Kong, she is dispirited and discouraged so she does not want to teach people martial arts any more;3. Yixiantian set up a school of martial arts, and teaches people. They are three common situations of martial arts in that era.In the early China, the word kung fu does not exist. We just call it "martial arts". It is a fighting skill. In the film, before shooting actors to follow the real folk martial arts master learning martial arts, so the martial arts in the film comes from real factions in China. And, different factions have different forms. (Completely different combat skills) that is different in martial arts films. We usually see Kong fu in martial arts film is powerful and amazing, but this kind of kung fu mostly depends on the stunt, it is not real. The design of the many plots in the film contains some "rules" in the real world of martial arts: for example, Gong challenges Ye, narrowly won a little bit, so she cuts her hair and decided not marry. And she challenges to Ma San to revenge--this is the custom of the world of martial arts. In Chinese traditional culture people pay a lot of attention to practice and restrain them. Both of their thoughts and actions. So we can see even if Gong is a woman, she also fight for honour of her family. And Ye is loyal and brave when he faces a troublous country. The director of the film is Karwei Wong. He is a famous Hong Kong director. People familiar with the director should have a similar feeling - his film give person a feeling like they are in the dream. Wong's narrative way is not consistent; he likes the story apart and reassembles. And on colors Karwei Wong likes high strength contrast between cool color and warm color, dark and light. Wong's films always vague. But in The Grandmaster, he takes more serious, sincere and humanistic care. There are lots sentences very significant in the movie. "Encounters:All the encounters in the world seem like reuniting after a long separation." "Even thousands of mountains could not obstruct the way to realize one promise." "There must something keeping in your mind that makes you remember someone." And so on. These sentences expressed the attitude of people in facing love and duty. There are a lot of the audience asked, why Gong and Ye not to be together? Finally, I want to use a Chinese proverb to answer: rather than leave them to moisten each other with their damp and spittle it would be far better to let them forget themselves in their native rivers and lakes. (this sentences from Chuang tzu)I think it means sometimes people should understand all the arts of life is how to holding on and letting go.In The Grandmaster, I love these martial arts most. Because fighting dramas very wonderful in this film. In China, different Chinese martial arts usually mean different thinking. In this movie we can see Wing Chun, Eight Diagrams Palm, Octupole Fist and so on. And it is easy to find that eight diagrams palm is from Daoism, because the concept of the eight diagrams is from Daoism. The glamour of Chinese martial arts is not how fighting skills powerful. It is every different martial arts makes people think about self, think about life and other people. Ye has a sentence" To see myself. To see the world. To see the life." In Chinese traditional culture, people always think about the relationship between people and nature, between people and society, between people and people. We can see many Chinese directors discuss this topic and elements in their movies. (Like Ang Lee and Yimou Zhang) After watching The Grandmaster, I think it is not a typical martial arts film, it show more deeply meaning of what martial arts real are.
ma-cortes This film tells the story of Chinese Martial Arts Master IP man , the most famous fighter of China and around the world ; this is the tale of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee . In fact , Bruce Lee trained in Wing Chun and later developed his own hybrid martial arts philosophy . IP Man was the founder and spiritual guru of the Win Chun . This luxurious Kung Fu film was marvelously filmed with good production design , colorful cinematography , spectacular combats and breathtaking scenes . The flick displays lots of violence , action filled , fierce fights though turns out to be overlong and some tiring . It deals with Ip Man's (Tony Leung) peaceful existence in Foshan , but his life changes when Gong Yutian (Wan) seeks a successor for his family in Southern China . Ip Man then meets Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) who challenges him for the sake of regaining her father's honor . Later on , there takes place the Second Chinese-Japanese War , as Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide food and comfort for his family but they decease . While , Gong Er takes the way of revenge after her father is wrongly murdered . Good film starring Tony Leung , based on the true story of the martial arts master IP Man . Tony Chiu Wai Leung trained four hours a day for a year in preparation for his role . This moving Chop-Socky displays drama , action-packed , thrills , and wild fighting images . It is an action-filled and violent film , being filmed in Shanghái , Foshan, Kaiping ,Guangdong, and Shenyang, Liaoning, China . Director Kar Wai Wong establishes his signature style of kinetically-paced story-telling through sumptuous imagery , leading to international critical acclaim . The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with frenetic action , surprises , fierce combats and groundbreaking struggles . The rousing fights with deadly use of fists , feet and palms ; actors exercised ¨Wing Chun¨ it is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes short-range practical combat with direct punches and blocks and low kicks , its practitioners are trained to quickly approach and engage opponents at close range , this can negate the longer range of taller opponents by attacking from inside their offensive perimeter. Fights , attacks and exciting combats very well staged by expert fighters , the result is a strong entry for art martial buffs . Amid the glamour and grandeur of the scenarios is developed an intrigue between Chinese-Japanese confrontation and about a fighter master who attempts to restore his name . Groundbreaking combats among Tony Leung , Ziyi Zhang and a lot of enemy fighters . Classic as well as impressive Chop-Socky in which wild fighting scenes provide an overwhelming view of Tony Leung/Ziyi Zhang's skills . Actors made their owns stunts ; some of the players got injured and to had to be hospitalized during the shooting , some of them suffered mild concussions during filming, after being struck several times during fighting scenes . The motion picture was well directed by Kar Wai Wong , but some moments results to be a little boring and slow moving . He is 1st Chinese to win the Best Director Award at Cannes film Festival (1997) for "In the Mood for Love" and has directed several successes such as ¨My Blueberry nights¨, ¨2046¨, ¨Happy together¨, ¨Fallen Angels¨ and ¨Chungking Express¨. And , of course , this ¨The Grandmaster¨ that was official submission of Hong Kong to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category . One reason for the long development time of the movie was that the film spent over a year in editing before director Kar Wai Wong was satisfied . The ¨Grandmaster¨project was announced almost 10 years before its final release, due to director Kar Wai Wong's endless perfectionism. Several other motion pictures about the Ip Man that were conceived after this announcement most famously ¨Ip Man¨ (2008) by Wilson Yip with Donny Yen , ¨IP Man 2¨ (2010) by Wilson Yip with Donnie Yen as Yip Man , Xiaoming Huang , Wong Shun-Leung , Sammo Hung Kam-Bo , Lynn Hung , Simon Yan and ¨IP Man 3¨ (2013) with Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as Ip Man, Gillian Chung , Jordan Chan and Eric Tsang , all of them were all released in the meantime.
Robin Turner I can see why some people might not like "The Grandmaster". Martial artists who want an accurate biopic of Ip Man will be as disappointed by this as by the earlier film "Ip Man"; on the other hand, such a film would probably be deadly boring to anyone else. On the other hand, people wanting a straightforward kung fu flick will also be disappointed. This is a kung fu art film, and as such, it excels. Every shot is a picture, and the film should be watched accordingly. If you don't like the kind of film where the camera pans away from a fight to zoom in on some raindrops, don't watch it.The story is a little confusing, not least because it is as much about Gong Er as Ip Man - in fact it should have been called "The Grandmasters" (a title Wong Kar-Wai briefly considered). The understated flirtation between the two of them is a rather thin device to keep the two story-lines together and the main reason I'm not giving this film a ten. Having a real person fall in love with a fictional character just seems pointless. The other thing I knocked off a point for is that the stories of the other masters - Ma San and The Razor - seem to have been mostly left on the cutting room floor. Ma Sen thus comes across as a cardboard "bad student" and The Razor seems superfluous.From a martial arts point of view, it's fun watching the different styles and the disputes between them. Again, nothing actually happened like it did in the film, and the fights are stylised representations of what a fight between masters of different styles would look like, but the moves are recognisable as Wing Chun, Hong Gar, Bagua and so forth. Zhang Ziyi studied a lot of Bagua while preparing for the film, and it shows. A martial arts (or even a martial arts film) background is not necessary to enjoy the film, though; the cinematography alone carries it.