THE GRANDMASTER (15)

WHO’S IN IT?

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Hero), Zhang Ziyi (Memoirs of a Geisha), Song Hye-kyo (My Girl and I), Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Zhao Benshan (The Emperor and the Assassin), Qingxiang Wang (Chinese Zodiac), Zhang Jin (The Bounty), Yuen Woo-ping (Kill Bill), Xiaoshenyang (A Simple Noodle Story), Cung Le (Fighting), Tielong Shang (Perhaps Love)

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Wong Kar-wai (My Blueberry Nights), director, writer, producer; Jingzhi Zou (My Kingdom) and Haofeng Xu (Judge Archer), writers; Jacky Pang Yee Wah (Touch of the Light), producer; Nathaniel Méchaly (Taken) and Shigeru Umebayashi (House of Flying Daggers), composers; Philippe Le Sourd (Seven Pounds), cinematographer; William Chang (2046) and Hung Poon (Dragon Inn), editors

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In 1930s China, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man (Chiu-Wai) finds his peaceful life in Foshan interrupted by the arrival of Gong Yutian (Qingxiang), who seeks an heir for his family in the South, and the challenge of Yutian’s daughter Gong Er (Zhang) to regain her family honour. We also follow Ip Man’s travels to Hong Kong after the Second Sino-Japanese War, as well as Gong Er’s later travellings down the path of vengeance…

IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?

The life of Ip Man, the martial arts teacher who infamously had Bruce Lee as one of his later pupils, has been told on-screen before, but perhaps not as eloquently as Wong Kar-Wai’s direction or Philippe Le Sourd’s Oscar-nominated cinematography will allow.

WHEN’S IT OUT?

FRIDAY 5TH DECEMBER 2014

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