A very, very rare thing happened today. Not only did I see a new kung fu movie, but I enjoyed it.
Usually for me, kung fu is like rap music. I rarely encounter anything that breaks the mould. There is so much cliché in both genres. That doesn't mean I don't like rap, but that I don't expect rap to push any boundaries further than it did when Run DMC crossed over with Aerosmith via "Walk This Way". That might sound like heresy to a true hip-hop fan but, like kung fu, you're either a fan or a hater.
Anyhow, what made Ip Man so special?
Several things. First, it's based on a true story, although I didn't know that until the roundup was scrolling. Ip Man was a real character, one who invented the Wing Chung style of martial art and used it to resist the brutal Japanese occupation of China just before the second World War. After the war, Ip Man set up a Wing Chung school in Hong Kong, and none other than Bruce Lee became one of his graduates.
The production quality is high, the action is swift and serious, and the town scenes are not only authentic looking, but add a depth to action that in other kung fu films tends to only take place in a dojo, or a restaurant.
1 comment:
Yeah, but I bet it's not a patch on the classic 'Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan', the plot, of which I have little recollection(due to several pints of Brains before going to the Cinema), is, according to Wikipedia
'Sweet young Ainu is abducted and sold off to the popular Four Seasons brothel run by lusty madam who falls for her nubile charge and entrusts her with a number of martial arts secrets like “Ghost Hands,” which allows a fighter to plunge into an opponent’s chest. Soon murder erupts within the brothel, and a policeman must race against time to prevent a vicious revenge plot from reaching its blood-spattered conclusion.'
Why don't they make 'em like that any more?
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