Berlin Review: Is Wong Kar Wai's 'The Grandmaster' Really a Martial Arts Movie?

Kicking off in the early 1930s and spanning two decades of events, "The Grandmaster" is not invested in the visceral rush of clashing opponents or elaborate training sessions. Instead, Wong emphasizes sacred traditions pitted against the march of time. When the Japanese occupation brings a faster end to Gong's career than anyone around him expected, his daughter launches on a warpath against defected Gong disciple Ma Shan (Zhang Jin), while Ip Man's own ambitions are buried in a hail of wartime tragedies. The excitement of combat expectations gives way to a melancholic second act.

Even as the plot of "The Grandmaster" gets droopy, it never loses the polished look. Working with a new director of photography (French cinematographer Phillipe Le Sourd), Wong's attentiveness to color palettes and shifting frame rates are more erratic than those found in his collaborations with Christopher Doyle, but they're always gorgeous displays often caked in yellows or browns that solidify the ancient quality of the proceedings.

Repeatedly capturing Wing Chung disciples gathered together before freezing them into a still image, Wong provides constant reminders of the history at work. The effect is alternately involving and remote as the story zigzags along. The intense chatter about family honor tends to have a listless quality, but Wong's implementation of fight choreography stands apart from any easy comparison. A steady stream of close-ups with rapid cuts of bodies invariably slowed down and sped up, the combat in "The Grandmaster" maintains a heavily aesthetisized feel without defying physics a la "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Everything impressive about is grounded in actual technique.

Wong can never match that inspired aspect of his direction with an equally commanding story, although there's some emotional potency to the plight of Gong as she does her father's legacy proud, reaching a greater heroic dimension than Ip Man himself. But the filmmaker does nothing to counteracts a dryness to the process of getting to that point, and his pensiveness only truly gels for the way it draws attention to the movie's defiance of clichés. The stage is set early on for a showdown that's interrupted by the harsher chaos of greater historical events, proving that the destructive forces of war pack a much bigger wallop than any combination of punching and kicks.

Unsurprisingly, Wong gets this idea across through a delicately constructed tone rendered with an effortless quality on par with the skilled fighters at the movie's center. "Don't worry about your style," Ip Man says, a statement that applies to Wong as well. Even with this shift of content, the form remains a visual marvel.

Criticwire grade: B+

HOW WILL IT PLAY? Already a major blockbuster in China, "The Grandmaster" opens the Berlin International Film Festival without a North American distributor. It has limited appeal in the United States but should find a home with a midsize distributor experienced with martial arts and arthouse releases able to help the movie find its niche market. It won't replicate its success back home, but "The Grandmaster" is certain to reach audiences already eager to see it.