Director: Yip Wai-Shun
Stars: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Xiong Dai Lin, Hirouki Ikeuchi
So, first on my seven selected titles for my work holiday viewing is Ip Man. Another title in my growing collection of Donnie Yen, who in my humble opinion, is the best marital artist in cinema today. Bold statement, yes. But when you watch films like this, Dragon Tiger Gate, SPL (Kill Zone) or Flash Point, you’ll understand why.
Ip Man is a bit of departure for Yen. Playing out as a biopic based on Wing Chun master, Ip Man, it showcases Yen’s amazing fighting skills and his modestly humble acting skills in front of the camera.
The story revolves around Japan’s invasion of China during the Sino-Japanese War. Before the invasion, Ip Man (Yen) spends his early years practicing his Wing Chun skills. Admired by all in his town of Foshan, Ip Man gracefully declines repeatedly to teach his adoring friends and followers Wing Chun being the peaceful marital artist that he is. However when Japan invades, the invaders encourage Foshan fighters to fight for their amusement with the faint promise of getting food during the poverty stricken situation following the Japanese occupancy. With this act of brutality, Ip Man starts to reassess his previous decisions not to teach his craft as his friends and love ones start to suffer. In the vein of depression and military rule by Japan, Ip Man would go on to defy the Japanese invaders to his town in Foshan and inspire his fellow country men to rebel.
Like I said, this is technically a biopic that infuses wartime drama with intense close-quarter fight sequences (directed by Sammo Hung) and for fans of Donnie Yen, it is absolutely a must watch film. In comparison to his slicker, fast paced previous films, Ip Man is a subdued yet engaging human drama of overcoming oppression and this makes a wonderful change and its demonstrates the charismatic Hong Kong action icon’s range.
And with most recent Donnie Yen films, the fight work when it comes is superb. The main highlight to me is not one of the grand duels that we see early on in the film between Ip Man and aggressive out-of-towners but the eruption of Ip Man’s fury against the Japanese in a one vs ten man fight. The fluidity, brutality and perfect execution of this sequence is just superb.
Hong Kong is still producing great action cinema, most of the time, better than the western output spare a few singular moments (hands up Undisputed 2 & 3!). If you haven’t watched a Donnie Yen film, Ip Man is a perfect place to start.
No comments:
Post a Comment