Simply Perfect

Admirable film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Okay, to be honest, I was confused through most of the film. The sudden pause of the sequences and the text "break" were tiring and a little all over the place. And the ending... you will think that it's going to end, but then another sequence appears and another and another. It's like the film makers didn't want to let go. The film is based on real events, though the kung fu fights were so beautiful, they seemed like they were taken from the lovely Chinese war fantasies, with the long swords and the kings, not to mention the air fighting scenes. The way the kung fu move interacted with the natural elements was magical and of course the rain fighting scene was excellent, in my opinion, the best of the whole movie. You can feel the values of the kung fu throughout the movie, with the "schools" of the art and the loyalty towards the master. I think that that was the one thing the movie wanted to come through the audience, and if so, then they succeeded beautifully. The performances, lastly, were nice, though the costumes could have been better. So, 4 out of 10.

This is not your father's martial art film. It is as much an art film as it is a martial arts film. This is the fact and fiction based story of Ip Man, the Kung Fu master who trained Bruce Lee. The story begins before the Japanese invaded China and starting off WWII in Asia. It is a time when China was a society where Western ideals of Democracy were in its infancy and men of leisure and skill spent their days in social clubs practicing the styles of Kung Fu. A lone woman, the daughter of one of the masters, comes in to challenge the status quo and wins the heart of the married family man Ip Man.This is not a happy tale. The Japanese invade China and after the war the Communists take over. He loses both his family and his true love. But in the end you walk away smiling and know that you did not waste your precious time.Though some of the fight sequences turn into Wire Fu, it is done so well that even most fight purists will give it a pass. The story, direction, acting and photography are first rate. I was captivated during the entire film and fell in love, once more, with the enchanting actress Ziyi Yang. Both Yang and Tony Leung give the performances of their careers.

I've been in training of a sort and unable to view serious movies, so it was difficult to arrange for this, and the anticipation built. Now I regret not having prepared better.Filmmaking for me is calligraphy on water.A filmmaker's art can be in the shape of what is written. Nolan, for example does well with this. It can be in how it is written. Kurosawa and Wells are good examples.Or it can be in the nature of the *brush,* the instrument of capture itself. Kae Wai Wong is the only living filmmaker that works in all three simultaneously. So far as the story, I was lost much of the time. This clearly was made for a Chinese audience who would know the history and characters — and who would appreciate important regional differences. The unrolling was slightly non-linear but that was not a hindrance. Nevertheless, the three stories had power: a meditation on soulmates, a tragedy of lost/stolen tradition, an implicit history of cinematic fight styles. These are indeed treated as if they are fluid flows, only partly captured and disturbed by the looking. Some of the shifts from realistic to formalized (not unlike Herzog) underscore this.Among the various threads on screen, the love story was what engaged me. Power in its restraint. A sort of noble but incomplete joy in the tragedy. Waiting to say little. Alone. The nature of the tragedy has so many ambiguous overtones it bleeds into an open life, which I presume to be a requisite for any of his films.Among the threads behind the camera, I found the strokes here to be novel. This is film about traditions being merged to create power, a power incidentally that spawned a choreographic tradition in cinema. It seems as if the partnership with the new cinematographer (after the rich relationship with Chris Doyle), is based on moving from one *style* to another.We have a variety of cinematic perspectives, many of which are beautiful. But the point seems to be the transitions one to another, the movement from one world-view to another. Lyrical vision, always expanded vision. Slow eye jazz. Experimental rhythms. Typical to this filmmaker is a reference to this: the ultimate fight scene is photographed with four perspectives, each with a unique style. *Behind* is a train that starts and by the end of the fight (and causing the end) it is racing. The effect is amazing. I am used to the patterns he used with Doyle, whose choppiness clipped Kar Wai's meditations. Doyle's drifting complemented Kar Wai's fixed meditations. Now, it seems he has a new worthy collaborator, a partner in exploring new mixes, new expressions. I don't know this fellow well, but of course have seen his work. From how well the thing is assembled, I imagine they have shot a 20 hour movie.At all three layers, he references dynamic water.Rating: 3

For the first 45 minutes, "The Grandmaster" is exquisitely beautiful, perfected composed and edited production; the likes of which I have rarely seen since the Sergio Leone films and "The Godfather" Parts 1 and 2. Then, when Japan invades China, the movie crumbles in the same tragic manner as the fortunes of the Chinese elite. While the film remains exquisitely beautiful, the storyline becomes so disjointed as to become completely uninvolving. Scenes requiring dramatic impact are summarized in voice-over and scenes which should have played in parallel are presented in flashback. The proper title for this film should be "The Grandmasters," as there are two grandmasters in the foreground; Tony Leung's "Ip Man" and Ziyi Zhang's "Gong Er". Zhang is missing from the film for far too long to care much about her fate. Yet, when we finally do learn what happened to her during the war, Leung's character is missing long enough for us not to care about him, either. The closing scenes are flat and unnecessary. Both my wife and I found ourselves squirming, waiting for the movie to end. This is a shame; as, had "The Grandmaster" been edited in a coherent fashion during the last hour, it would be one of the great martial arts films. Instead, it winds up barely being good. I give "The Grand Master" a weak "6".