Ip Man (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Ip Man (Chinese: 叶问 / 葉問) is a 2008 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and teacher of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen as Ip Man, with martial arts choreography by Sammo Hung. The supporting cast includes Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Tenma Shibuya. It is a co-production between China and Hong Kong. It is the last film to be distributed by Mandarin Films.
Ip Man is the first film in the Ip Man film series. It premiered in Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Before the film's release, Raymond Wong announced that there would be a sequel; a second installment titled Ip Man 2, was released in April 2010, a third installment titled Ip Man 3 was released in 2015, and Ip Man 4: The Finale was released in 2019.<ref name="Ip Man 4">Template:Citation</ref> Ip Man grossed over US$22 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.
Plot
In 1935, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where the various schools' students compete against each other. Ip Man, the most skilled martial artist in town, maintains a low profile while building a reputation for skill through friendly, closed-door competitions with other masters. One day, a local troublemaker named Yuan loses his kite, which lands in a tree in the Ip family's back yard. While retrieving it, Yuan witnesses Ip defeating fellow kung fu master Liu in a sparring match, and spreads the news around town, inadvertently embarrassing Liu. Yuan's brother Lin, a restaurant owner and disciple of Liu, publicly embarrasses Yuan as he tries to arrange a rematch between Liu and Ip, and Yuan runs away from home.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip and his family are forced to move into a decrepit apartment after the Imperial Japanese Army confiscates their house for use as a military headquarters. Running out of valuables to sell for food, Ip gets a job at a coal mine alongside Lin, who hopes to reconcile with his brother but has so far failed to track him down. General Miura, a Japanese Karate master, sets up an arena where Chinese martial artists can challenge his military trainees for a bag of rice. Former police officer Li Zhao, now an interpreter for the Japanese, visits the mine to recruit anyone willing to fight. Ip at first declines to participate, but agrees to go when Lin fails to return from a match.
At the arena, Ip witnesses Liu being shot in the back of the head by Miura's sadistic deputy, Colonel Sato, for picking up a bag of rice from a prior victory after giving up a second match against three karateka. Deducing that Lin was killed in his fight against Miura, Ip demands a match with ten karateka at once, whom he brutally defeats. His skill arouses the interest of Miura, who insists that Ip return as soon as possible. Refusing to accept the bags of rice offered for his victory, Ip quietly picks up Liu's blood-stained bag and gifts it to his surviving family.
Jin Shanzhao, a highly-skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master who once defeated all the masters in Foshan except Ip, now leads a bandit gang and harasses the workers at a cotton mill run by Ip's friend Chow Ching-chuen. Ip agrees to train the workers in Wing Chun for self-defence. The workers are able to stall the gang when they return long enough for Ip to arrive and defeat Jin and Yuan, now a part of the gang. After running Jin's gang out of Foshan, Ip confronts Yuan and gives him a small tin that belonged to Lin after informing him of his brother's death. Yuan opens the tin and finds his kite inside; this motivates Yuan to leave the gang.
When Ip does not return to the arena, Miura sends Sato and two soldiers to track him down. After overpowering them at the apartment, Ip and his family flee and hide in Li's house. The Japanese learn about the cotton mill and take the workers hostage. Despite Li's warnings, Ip surrenders himself to the Japanese while arranging for his wife and son to be sent to Hong Kong for protection. Miura asks Ip to train the Japanese soldiers in Chinese martial arts, but Ip refuses and challenges Miura to a match. Though Sato insists on executing Ip, Miura accepts the challenge to uphold his honor and crush the Chinese spirit; Sato threatens Ip with death if he does not allow the General to win.
With the people of Foshan watching, Ip defeats Miura after a long and hard fight. Looking over the cheering crowd and seeing his wife and son, Ip is shot in the shoulder by Sato. As the crowd overwhelms the Japanese soldiers, Li manages to kill Sato with his own gun. Ip is taken away by Chow amid the chaos and manages to escape with his family to Hong Kong. A closing montage and captions reveal that Ip spent the rest of his life working to spread the teachings of Wing Chun, establishing a school and training several students, including Bruce Lee.
