Movie Reviews

IP MAN (Yeep. mun. wan)

Let me just first say that I can't believe our first Lao Jiao Theatres movie screening was of a Chinese film. Nevertheless, this movie is indeed one of the top iconic kung fu films of the present age. IMDB gave it an 8.0 and Rotten Tomatoes (A website filled with film critique wannabes) gave it a 84%.

I remember when I first went to watch this film in the cinema (Yes, I paid money to watch a Chinese movie which I was clueless about.) My friend called it "I.P Man". I thought it was going to be one of those horrible comedies like our Singapore's "V.R Man" but I was truly proven wrong. Never did I watch such an entertaining Chinese film. My mind was in a constant debate if I should be concentrating on the action going on or on the subtitles. It was so good that I went on to watch it again for another two times and then I went on to watch Ip Man 2 twice.

FILM BREAKDOWN (Brace yourself. The film student is gonna let lose)

When you set aside at the machine-gun punches and breaking of bones, Ip Man is mainly a story of the "Chinese spirit". Ip Man represents what a Chinese person is taught to be- Patriotic and loyal to "their own county men". The movie emphasised loads about how kung fu should not be used as a weapon. I liked how they did not use the common saying that it is a form of "self defence" as I that this saying is used too much till it has lost its meaning. In the movie, Donnie Yen called martial arts "Confucian in movement", which means that wing chun is about embodying what a china man is taught and then releasing it through movement. Another line which says a lot is when he was asked for his name and he answered "I am just a Chinese man". That line pretty much means "I am a person of morals and respect unlike you Japanese people" OUCH! The film did this so well that I couldn't help but feel kind of proud to be a chinese.

Symbolisms and Motifs

Sweet Potato

After thinking about it, I realised that there was lots of meaning behind a simple sweet potato. When we first encountered the sweet potato, Ip Man decided to keep it for his family. The sweet potato symbolised the hardship of the Chinese people. It is a constant reminder of what they have to go through to support their family. Sweet potato and tapioca were favourite snacks during war time, not just because it was all they could afford but it was a reminder of how something so small could humble yourself down, reminder you that the littlest of things can sweeten up a bitter life.

The next time that the sweet potato appeared was during the iconic "WO YAO DA SHI GE!!!!!" scene. On your top left, you can see a screenshot of one of my favourite colour corrected shots. Notice how the only thing that seems to have any colour or saturation is the blood and the inside of the sweet potato. I think that the intention of this was to show how war can turn life dull but there are things that the Japanese can never take away. 1) Brotherhood- The same blood that every chinese man share and 2) Humbleness- The same pain that every chinese person has to go through together.

The Wooden Dummy

At first it would seem like the wooden dummy was just an object used to train wing chun but it became more than that as seen from the final fight. They kept cutting between Ip Man beating the crap out of the Miura and Ip Man practising on the wooden dummy.

This is known as the kuloshov effect where we see one thing and they we cut to something else so that the previous scene has deeper meaning. A video of the kuloshov effect is attached below.

Now back to the scene! So when Ip Man beats up Miura, he is being reminded of when he was able to practice on his wooden dummy. He was also reminiscing the days of freedom where chinese people would walk in the streets without fear, of days when chinese people could share whatever they had while still being able to put rice on their plates, of days when kung fu could be taught through sparring and not be used to release one's rage towards the japanese. The wooden dummy was freedom to Ip Man.

Conclusion

So that's all I have to say for this movie (I know it was a lot). Ip Man will forever be considered a film for the chinese people. You will never find a film about chinese people being portrayed by someone like Ip Man because his life was fully dedicated to his countrymen. Even Bruce Lee's memorial movie "Dragon" was directed by an American, (Which makes we wonder if Bruce Lee is considered a sell-out in the eyes of the Chinese).... Let's just wait and see how a Jackie Chan memorial movie would turn out.

Finally, I remember the question of how Ip Man and Bruce Lee died was raised up so I did some research and this was what I found...

Ip Man : Died of throat cancer.
Bruce Lee: Had several seizures before finally collapsing dead.
Brandon Lee: Killed by an accidental gunshot during one of his films.

THE END.