Hong Kong art house director Wong Kar Wai back with kung fu epic


Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai removes confetti from his sunglasses after he beats a drum with cast members at the premiere of the movie ''The Grandmaster'' in Hong Kong January 8, 2013. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

By Venus Wu
HONG KONG | Tue Jan 8, 2013 11:30pm EST

(Reuters) - Hong Kong art house director Wong Kar Wai, whose slow-paced, pensive films earned him laurels at international festivals such as Cannes, where he won best director, has just come out with "The Grandmaster," his latest kung fu epic.

The fruit of eight years of labor and selected as the opening movie for February's Berlin International Film Festival, The Grandmaster tells the legendary tale of Bruce Lee's master Yip Man, played by Wong's long-time collaborator and Cannes best actor award winner Tony Leung.

The concept of the movie hit Wong even before he released his most celebrated work, In The Mood for Love, back in 2000, said the director, wearing his trademark sunglasses, at the movie's Hong Kong premiere on Jan 8.

The idea kept brewing in his head and eventually took him on a three-year journey, knocking on the doors of over 100 kung fu masters across China.

"In the world of martial arts, there's a saying that goes -- 'the skies outside and inside the door are different,' he said.

"When you look at it outside the door, it will forever stay a mystery. But when you have a chance to put your head inside and take a peek, you then realize that (the world) inside draws you in," added Wong, who will also serve as the president of the jury for this year's Berlinale.

The auteur set his eyes on four martial art clans for his feature film, but stressed that he wanted to convey a common spirit shared by grandmasters and aficionados alike.

"In the world of martial arts, there are many people who are not 'masters', but they have a deep affection for martial arts. They always hope to leave something behind for their clan and martial arts during their lifetime," he said.

"I think this spirit is the spirit that 'The Grandmaster' wants to convey -- lingering thoughts that are never forgotten, echos that will always come," Wong said.

Set at the infancy of modern China in the early 1900s, the retirement of a martial arts guru leaves the title of Grandmaster up for grabs.

Among the four top fighters for the position is the feisty Gong Er, played by Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha.

For her role, Zhang trained under the teacher of kung fu star Jet Li, and said the movements were key to expressing the spirit of the characters.

"She (Gong Er) is a combination of almost all the unique features and merits of women of that era," Zhang said.

"In terms of movements, we trained for such a long time because the director hoped when we went inside the world of the characters, we already carried their spirit in our bodies."

Wong took the Best Director Award at Cannes in 1997 for "Happy Together," which depicts a tempestuous romance between two men and was also nominated for the Palme d'Or.

Plagued by delays, The Grandmaster finally made its global premiere in Beijing on Jan 6, and opened across China on Jan 8 before showing in Berlin on February 7.

(Reporting by Venus Wu, editing by Elaine Lies)
The critics are eating this up.
January 9, 2013, 6:54 PM
Wong Kar-wai Scores With ‘The Grandmaster’
By Dean Napolitano


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Zhang Ziyi, center, stars as Gong Er in Wong Kar-wai’s ‘The Grandmaster.’ More photos

After a decade of preparation and three years of filming, Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” opened in China on Tuesday, and any lingering questions over whether the movie would live up to its lofty expectations immediately evaporated.

Mr. Wong has made a martial-arts film for people who typically wouldn’t go to see an action movie, and an art-house film for audiences who resist ambiguity in their cinematic experiences.


Associated Press
Tony Leung, Wong Kar-wai, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen at the Hong Kong premiere of ‘The Grandmaster’ on Jan. 8. More photos

Many of the kung-fu scenes are set in beautifully furnished parlor rooms that suggest the quiet intensity of a high-stakes chess game, but one in which the threats could mean life or death. It’s in these moments it becomes clear that Mr. Wong is showing his audience that kung fu is as much an intellectual pursuit as it is a sport of strength and physical superiority.

Fans of Mr. Wong, one of Asia’s most prominent filmmakers and a regular fixture on the international film-festival circuit, have been eagerly anticipating “The Grandmaster.” More than five years have passed since the Hong Kong director released his last full-length feature film, “My Blueberry Nights” starring Norah Jones, and it’s been nearly nine years since his last Chinese-language film, “2046.”

Critics were quick to praise “The Grandmaster.” Variety said the film “exceeds expectations,” while Twitch described it as “an action-packed visual feast.”

The movie follows the life of Ip Man, the real-life instructor of the Wing Chun style of kung fu, who was born in Foshan in 1893 and died in Hong Kong in 1972. (A young Bruce Lee was among his students, although his character doesn’t appear in the new film.)

Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays Ip Man; Zhang Ziyi stars as Gong Er, the daughter of a powerful martial-arts master from northern China and a kung-fu expert herself; and Chang Chen appears as a mysterious character named Razor. All three actors joined Mr. Wong at a press conference in a crowded Hong Kong shopping mall on Tuesday night for the local premiere.


Dean Napolitano/The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Leung said the action part of the movie was ‘really tough.’ More photos

Mr. Leung, who is known primarily for his dramatic roles rather than action, told the Journal that preparing for the role was a challenge.

“The action part was really tough for me,” Mr. Leung said. “We started practicing a year-and-a-half before the movie began shooting. … But we trained during the shooting, so we trained like four years.”

“The character is very much different from what audiences have seen before,” he continued. “With the role this time, we are trying to mix up Bruce Lee and the real man — Ip Man — together.”

“The Grandmaster” takes place mainly from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s — a turbulent time in China’s history, but one that the film doesn’t dwell on — and focuses on Ip Man’s tentative friendship with Gong Er and his rivalry with other kung-fu masters and their followers. The story also explores the deep patience, obedience and discipline that kung fu demands on its teachers and students.

The Ip Man character has become an extremely popular — and profitable — movie character in recent years, most notably with 2008’s “Ip Man” and its 2010 sequel starring Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen.

“The Grandmaster” opens in Hong Kong on Thursday and in Taiwan next week, ahead of its European premiere on Feb. 7 as the opening film at the Berlin International Film Festival, where Mr. Wong is this year’s jury president. The movie will screen out of competition.

Though the film runs two hours and 10 minutes, Mr. Wong said earlier this week that it could have lasted four hours due to all the footage he shot, which suggests that audiences someday could see a longer “director’s cut.”

The Chinese movie industry will now turn its attention to box-office receipts for “The Grandmaster,” which took in 29.8 million yuan ($4.8 million) on its opening day Tuesday, according to media-research firm EntGroup. By comparison, “Lost in Thailand” pulled in 39.4 million on its first day on Dec. 12.

“Lost in Thailand” has earned 1.17 billion yuan as of Tuesday, making it the highest-grossing Chinese film ever in the domestic market, EntGroup said.