The Grandmaster - Film Review

With a long passage of time and a biographical framework, Wong Kar-wai’s visually majestic film combines elements of historical drama and territorial martial arts mastery. 
However, taking a long view of Chinese history where the world events occur off-screen, and imbuing violence with heightened if unarticulated emotion, Wong chooses not to make a typical martial arts film, but to instead apply his distinctive directorial style to a well-established genre. Much like his previous work in In The Mood For Love, 2046 and his middling English-language film My Blueberry Nights, The Grandmaster is built on ellipses. Through the brutal and balletic fight scenes, and ethereal but lethal choreography and the passage of time, Wong sews a thread of intimacy, based on personal control and restraint. He places his focus on held glances, unconsummated attractions and unexpressed desire.
Chronicling the life of Ip Man (played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai), the martial arts master who trained Bruce Lee, the journey takes two paths. In one, we see his attraction-fuelled fights with Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang), the daughter of a legendary master, who appears to take flight as they engage in breathtakingly beautiful combat. The other strand of the story proves frustrating, as Wong compresses history, unsatisfactorily – and occasionally incoherently – explaining the hardships that befall Ip Man over time.
Wong is a master of visuals and mood, and as slow motion fights are shot in silver-bathed rainstorms, noirish tableaux and striking landscapes, there’s both a luxury and luminosity to his painterly scenes. However, the enigmatic tone can often give way to inertia, and his stifled emotions can become frustrating, particularly when coupled with the ill-paced plot. A visual wonder in a poorly constructed frame.