Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.
Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster is visually ravishing — Roger Deakins-level slow-motion martial arts choreography drenched in rain and neon, among the most gorgeous action cinematography of the decade. Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi deliver deeply felt, nuanced performances that elevate the material. However, the film's notorious fragmentation (especially the international cut) leaves the plot feeling elliptical to the point of incoherence — emotional threads are introduced and abandoned. The ending is melancholic and resonant in the Gong Er strand but feels abrupt given how much narrative ground is skipped. Novelty sits in the middle: Wong Kar-wai's unmistakable romantic-melancholy aesthetic is distinctive, but the martial arts biopic framework is well-trodden ground.