Artistic martial arts film goes beyond kung fu
By Li Anlan |
January 27, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DIRECTOR Wong Kar-wai's latest film "The Grandmaster" portrays legendary martial arts master Ip Man, whose many students included Bruce Lee.
The film in Mandarin and Cantonese stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Ip Man (1893-1972), a grandmaster of Wing Chun martial arts.
The award-winning director and screenwriter worked on the film for 11 years, including three years for shooting.
Shanghai-born Wong, who moved to Hong Kong 50 years ago, on spoke with a Shanghai audience after "The Grandmaster" was screened on January 20 at the Shanghai Film Center.
"I'm a very lucky person and film is an industry with charms, especially for a director. Every time I make a film it's a life experience," the director said. "I write the scripts, I create every character. I don't make many films but every time it's totally different experience."
The story begins in Foshan, Guangdong Province, where Ip Man is happily married to his beautiful wife played by Korean actress Song Hye-kyo. Northeastern grandmaster Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang) challenges the southerner to a fight and Ip Man comes forward only to demonstrate that intelligence and restraint are as powerful as kung fu. He insists Northern and Southern martial arts can coexist peacefully. Gong's daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) is less satisfied, and returns to challenge Ip Man herself.
Although other films have been made about Ip Man, Wong said he was still curious and met many martial arts masters to learn the essence of martial arts.
"Some of the lines in the film were actually said by martial art masters. Martial arts is part of our culture and I'm glad to present it."
Wong is the first Asian director to win the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for "Happy Together." Other notable films include "In the Mood for Love" (2000), "Fallen Angels" (1995), "Chungking Express" (1994), "2046" (2004) and "My Blueberry Nights" (2007), a full-length feature in English.
"The Grandmaster," with English subtitles, will be the opening film next month at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. Wong will serve as jury president.
Q: Why did you choose to make a film about Ip Man?
A: Many previous films about Ip Man focused mainly on his martial arts, but what attracts me the most is his life story and understanding what's behind this person. He was born in the reign of the Guangxu Emperor (1875-1908) and lived through other periods. Ip Man was almost an epitome of that part of history in China with so much experience. He didn't journey by himself alone, time and destiny matters, as well as the people around him. So we are not talking just about the martial arts skills, but about the martial arts circles and the era of a man.
Q: Why did you use slow motion to express martial arts, making it very beautiful to watch, while martial arts are usually filmed to emphasize power and speed?
A: When a martial arts master shows his hands, you can immediately understand whether he has real skills - the posture and shape are beautiful. The hardest part during filming was when the martial arts director composed a fight scene and wanted certain actions with more force - and the adviser said 'no,' doing that would probably kill a person. Martial arts masters use weapons or even hurt or kill people, but we analyze the beautiful movements and show the audience how they use the strength. I think this film is showing the most respect to the actual martial arts.
Q: Some people say including just three scenes of Chang Chen playing Yi Xiantian is unnecessary. Your view?
A: I feel nothing is unnecessary in the film. There are tall trees and short trees, this is the comparison. Both Chang Chen and Tony Leung have fight scenes in the rain, they both started from the beginning in Hong Kong, but with different results. One becomes the grandmaster and another becomes a hairdresser. Both characters have great accomplishments that they pass down.
The film in Mandarin and Cantonese stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Ip Man (1893-1972), a grandmaster of Wing Chun martial arts.
The award-winning director and screenwriter worked on the film for 11 years, including three years for shooting.
Shanghai-born Wong, who moved to Hong Kong 50 years ago, on spoke with a Shanghai audience after "The Grandmaster" was screened on January 20 at the Shanghai Film Center.
"I'm a very lucky person and film is an industry with charms, especially for a director. Every time I make a film it's a life experience," the director said. "I write the scripts, I create every character. I don't make many films but every time it's totally different experience."
The story begins in Foshan, Guangdong Province, where Ip Man is happily married to his beautiful wife played by Korean actress Song Hye-kyo. Northeastern grandmaster Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang) challenges the southerner to a fight and Ip Man comes forward only to demonstrate that intelligence and restraint are as powerful as kung fu. He insists Northern and Southern martial arts can coexist peacefully. Gong's daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) is less satisfied, and returns to challenge Ip Man herself.
Although other films have been made about Ip Man, Wong said he was still curious and met many martial arts masters to learn the essence of martial arts.
"Some of the lines in the film were actually said by martial art masters. Martial arts is part of our culture and I'm glad to present it."
Wong is the first Asian director to win the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for "Happy Together." Other notable films include "In the Mood for Love" (2000), "Fallen Angels" (1995), "Chungking Express" (1994), "2046" (2004) and "My Blueberry Nights" (2007), a full-length feature in English.
"The Grandmaster," with English subtitles, will be the opening film next month at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. Wong will serve as jury president.
Q: Why did you choose to make a film about Ip Man?
A: Many previous films about Ip Man focused mainly on his martial arts, but what attracts me the most is his life story and understanding what's behind this person. He was born in the reign of the Guangxu Emperor (1875-1908) and lived through other periods. Ip Man was almost an epitome of that part of history in China with so much experience. He didn't journey by himself alone, time and destiny matters, as well as the people around him. So we are not talking just about the martial arts skills, but about the martial arts circles and the era of a man.
Q: Why did you use slow motion to express martial arts, making it very beautiful to watch, while martial arts are usually filmed to emphasize power and speed?
A: When a martial arts master shows his hands, you can immediately understand whether he has real skills - the posture and shape are beautiful. The hardest part during filming was when the martial arts director composed a fight scene and wanted certain actions with more force - and the adviser said 'no,' doing that would probably kill a person. Martial arts masters use weapons or even hurt or kill people, but we analyze the beautiful movements and show the audience how they use the strength. I think this film is showing the most respect to the actual martial arts.
Q: Some people say including just three scenes of Chang Chen playing Yi Xiantian is unnecessary. Your view?
A: I feel nothing is unnecessary in the film. There are tall trees and short trees, this is the comparison. Both Chang Chen and Tony Leung have fight scenes in the rain, they both started from the beginning in Hong Kong, but with different results. One becomes the grandmaster and another becomes a hairdresser. Both characters have great accomplishments that they pass down.
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