So it’s this time of the year again. As a blatant disregard to the concept of humility Wong Kar Wai is president of the jury and promptly decides to use his latest Zhang-Ziyi-and-Tony-Leung-vehicle as the opening movie. Not that it would stop me from watching, it’s a tradition after all and how could you stay mad at him when someone decided to decorate the trees in front of the theatre like that:
Yi Dai Zong Shi (The Grandmasters, ????)
Hong Kong, China 2012, Wong Kar Wai, 120′
Based on the life of Ip Man, Bruce Lee’s teacher, the movie shows the struggle of the northern and southern schools of Kung Fu between the establishment of the first Chinese republic until post-war Hong Kong in the 50s.
To set the tone, our German-speaking readers may first read this and then listen to this very appropriate song posted in the comments there.
TL;DR martial arts porn
In some ways this is the antithesis to The Hobbit: Instead of grand architecture and awe-inspiring landscapes we have mostly wonderfully detailed either colorful or decrepit interiors and instead of buttery smooth 48fps Wong Kar Wai indulges in both slow-motion and deliberately choppy real time scenes. Sometimes I do wonder if there are other choreographers than Yuen Woo Ping and if Zhang Ziyi is the only available strong female lead for this kind of movie. Anyway, both do what they can best: direct deliciously drawn-out fight scenes and be the desperate tragic, suffering heroine. Also, Tony Leung with a straw hat is pure man crush gold for me. There is a plot and it is quite easy to follow with an emphasis on humility, a code of honour and self-restraint and the love story between Ip Man and both his wife first and then Gong Er, Zhang Ziyi’s character, is also both nicely understated and enjoyable. The fight between Ip Man and Gong Er has more sexual tension than most sex scenes actually. Song Hye Kyo was surprisingly cast as Ip Man’s wife and between all the Kung Fu they show a loving marriage through both wealth and poverty until the children die and for some unexplained reason she stays in Foshan while Ip Man moves to Hong Kong after the war. Additionally the movie features the longest passenger train in human history also used as a weapon, I counted at least 100 carriages (why they could not have it depart at the end of the fight instead of the middle is beyond me)! All in all if you like beautiful Kung Fu movies I can wholeheartedly recommend it. The German critic in the linked article apparently dislikes them.
The linked article is about the worst thing ever – it basically says nothing about the movie besides “it’s not political”. I can’t take German critics seriously (which is why we rely on you, oh Great Pixelmatsch! XD)