(language Mandarin)
I have nothing but respect for
Kar Wai Wong. His movies are deeply thought provoking and mesmerizing in every
possible way that you can imagine and they are pure works of art. As a director
he knows what cinema is truly capable of and touching the deepest corner of
hearts for him is just magically simple. However his latest The Grandmaster is
very noticeable out of his usual movie making style and it’s different. While
being one of the most beautiful martial art movies I have seeing ever this
gives me mixed feelings.
To start with the plot is not an unfamiliar
one for anyone who has seeing previous movies by Wilson Yip about the great
master IP (IP Man 2008, IP Man 2 2010). However The Grandmaster is an exploration
of master IP’s life from the early 1930s which is somewhat an unexplored era of
his life in previous movies. This could be the main reason that Kar Wai Wong
has spent significant time on master IP’s early life but given a short span of
the movie for his life after arriving in Hong Kong. Master IP was truly known
for his contribution to take martial arts especially Win Chun to a global arena
and that part of his life is less explored in this movie. If anyone expects to
see the same story unveiling with the great hands of Kar Wai Wong they will be somewhat
disappointed.
But The Grandmaster offers much
more than just master IP’s life. For a good deal of time the viewer feels like
it’s an exploration in to an era where China has gone through lot of domestic
and international disturbances and the evolution and the struggle of Chinese people
as a whole to keep up their life and traditions. At this point the plot spreads
in few directions and master IP’s story at times takes backstage. Though this
is a bold move made by the director to give the story more weight and meaning
it feels like master IP’s character was not given the proper respect he
deserve. For me the different story lines were a distraction and a reason to
drift away from the main plot than an anchor point. Being a slow moving film
the time spent on sub plots is harming the main plot.
Performance wise The Grandmaster
is brilliant. The simple yet rich performance by Tony Chiu Wai as master IP and
sharp eyed stunningly beautiful Leung Ziyi Zhang delivering the role of
ambitious Gong Er keeps the movie alive and warm. And the wonderful
cinematography with close up and high speed camera sequences makes The Grandmaster
a visually memorable one. You will witness some wonderfully crafted action
sequences in this one that’s lethal yet eye pleasing. As I recall this only
fall short to the beautiful cinematography of Hero (2002).
All in all The Grandmaster does
not fall in to one of those amazing movies made by Kar Wai Wong. But that does
not mean that he loses his title as one of the greatest directors of the
contemporary international cinema. His flags are still flying high while the
flag for The Grandmaster is at a bit lower level than the rest.
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