Evolution of Hong Kong Action Movies

Ip Man

Director:  Wilson Yip

Screenwriter:  Edmund Wong

Genre:  Martial Arts, Action

Cast: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Louis Fan, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Gordon Lam

Action Choreographers: Sammo Hung & Tony Leung Siu Hung

 

Production

 

The production of Ip Man was initially conceptualised by directors Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen in 1998 to film a movie about the teacher of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee with Donnie Yen contracted to portray Yip Man. The idea did not materialised after the production house ceased operation. Producer Raymond Wong subsequently picked up the idea and with consent from Ip Man’s son, Ip Chun, started development for the film. Ip Chun also acted as the film’s consultant on aspects of his father’s life. The film was developed with a budget of US$11 million and taking in US$21 million worldwide. Research on Ip Man’s life began in December 2007 with the movie officially announced in February 2008 in Foshan, China (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Principle photography began in March 2008 in Shanghai. Shanghai was chosen due to Foshan’s architecture changes since the 1930s, the era depicted in the movie. An abandoned storeroom in Shanghai was also transformed into Zhen Hua Cotton Factory, the first place Ip Man first taught students openly. Due to the change in filming location, there was some historical inaccuracy as the set was designed out of creativity of the production designer (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Sammo Hung and Tony Leung Siu Hung acted as the action choreographer of the movie with disciples of Ip Man, Ip Chun, Leo Au Yeung and Dennis To acted as technical consultant. Sammo Hung was approached as action director due to his prior experience in choreographing movies involving Wing Chun. In choreographing the actions sequences, Sammo Hung, who has previously choreographed basic Wing Chun moves in earlier films, seeked to add advanced Wing Chun moves into the film (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Donnie Yen, who has not practiced Wing Chun previously, trained with Ip Chun for 8 months prior to filming learning both the moves, styles as well as the concept and spirit behind the Wing Chun and Ip Man. Complex moves were designed for accomplished action actors Donnie Yen and Louis Fan with simpler moves designed for Judo black-belt holder Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi. Despite so, both Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi suffered injuries onset (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Reception

 

Ip Man achieved an 84% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes by 25 critics. Ip Man achieved Fresh rating by 6 of the 8 Top Critics on Rotton Tomatoes, with all the critics reserving the best praise for the exciting action sequences choreographed by Sammo Hung.  Cinematography of the movie was also praised. The film was criticised for its historical inaccuracy, plot development and characters development, especially those other than Ip Man. All in all, the film was considered to be an exciting and positive film (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Ip Man achieved a 93% Audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes by more than 26 thousands ratings, with an average rating of 4.2 out of 5. The action sequences was also widely lauded by audience, with many stating the film being one that reignites interest in Kungfu movies or being inspired by the movie to learn Wing Chun. Audience also laments the simple storyline and the over-glorification of Ip Man, portraying him as invincible. Criticism was also given to the lack of concentration on the supporting casts (Ip Man, n.d.).

 

Review

 

Martin-Jones (2014) speaks of Gilles Deleuze’s concept of flashback, recollection memory. The article describes films as representation of reality in the form of cinematic images. The article describes how with the editing of cinematic shots, the director has the training effects of Ip Man and Donnie Yen was showcased in the film. Continuous training at Wing Chun results in proficiency to the extent of instinct. To capture these instinct, effective cinematography and montage edits allows captures the trained martial artist’s past training in a fight. In the film Ip Man, it is done most effectively in the final fight between Ip Man and General Miura, when Miura, unable to break through the defence of Ip Ma, was pinned to a lamp post. Ip Man landed many blows onto the body of Miura seemingly in a programmed manner. Recollection memory was achieved in the film when scene of Ip Man training alone with a wooden dummy with his eyes closed, performing the same fluid movements on the wooden dummy. This in terms show the audience effectiveness and power of traditional Wing Chun kungfu and explores China’s culture through Kungfu as a stored memory, which has appealed to diasporic Chinese around the world.

 

Sources

 

Ip Man. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ip_Man_(film)

 

Ip Man. (n.d.). Retrieved from Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ip_man/

 

Martin-Jones, D. (2014). Remembering the Body: Deleuze's recollection-image, and the spectacle of physical memory in Yip Man/Ip Man (2008). Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 8(2), 111-22. doi:10.1080/17508061.2014.915561