The Grandmaster – A Kung Fu Masterpiece

                                   by David Parmer

Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai has scored a solid financial and artistic success with his new film, The Grandmaster. Tony Leung Chin Wah plays the title role of Yip Man, popularizer of Wing Chun Kung Fu and mentor to Bruce Lee. This is the third film on martial arts master Yip Man (Yip Man, Yip Man2), but director Wong takes a wholly different approach from the traditional movie biography and martial arts films. 

The film begins in the 1930s with Yip Man accepting the challenge of the retiring Northern Grandmaster Gong Baosen. Yip defeats Gong, but Gong’s proud and headstrong daughter Gong Er ( Zhang Ziyi) demands a rematch to avenge the honor of their school. So begins a saga and romance that stretches 20 years and ends up with both characters in Hong Kong and Yip Man settling down to teach Wing Chun.

The Grandmaster is a beautiful film well crafted, well photographed and well written. Wong’s film looks at the history and ethos of Chinese martial arts and presents far more that a series of fight scenes. Fans of Wong Kar Wai familiar with films like In The Mood For Love (2000) will not be disappointed.

This film has already grossed more that US$45 million in the Chinese domestic market and has secured distribution in the U.S. through the Weinstein Company for release in August 2013. Korea distribution will be handled by CJE&M and will begin in May 2013, while Japanese distribution will begin at the same time by Gaga Corporation.

 While this martial arts-historical-romance-drama has built-in appeal for worldwide audiences, generally, Chinese films do not export well. On the other hand, a growing demand for movie entertainment in China has resulted in the addition of a reported 10 screens a day to domestic capacity. Currently only 20 foreign films a year are screened in China. The overseas film industry is eager for an expansion of this number in what is now the world’s second largest film market. (DP)