The Grandmaster

A film I watched recently was The Grandmaster. In a video I found in January of the top 25 films in 2013, this was one of them. I kept forgetting about it until I saw it on Redbox and just had to watch it.

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I really really enjoyed this film. Mostly for the cinematography. It played a lot with fast and slow motions. In a way, they were super obsessed with rain and snow, and basically anything that could be manipulated in post production.
I really liked the use of slow motion with the rain and snow because they were really environmental aspects of the film. The fast motions were with the performance of the kung fu in the film.
I really like this contrast because it made the fighting scenes look a lot more impressive and even beautiful.

This story was about Ip Man, Bruce Lee's teacher, and was a dramatic view behind the well known figure. I actually got lost so many times in the film. Not because it was subtitled or in a different language. It was just how the film was structured.

The one female character was the most badass character in the entire film. Even overshadowing Ip Man. She was Gong Er. Gong Er was the daughter of The Grandmaster in the North. Because she was female, she could not be the heir of her father's teachings. Although she was the masculine type of heroine, I thought she also exemplified a strong feminine female character by showing strength through persistence and general coolness.

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Overall it's a film to watch for a modern kung fu film. The story may be a bit hard to follow, but I don't think it would be for someone who has watched other films about Ip Man or knows his history.

Cheers,
Claire