Underplayed Gems

The Grandmaster (2013)

The Grandmaster poster
Original title
一代宗師
Directed by
Wong Kar-wai
Genre
drama film, action film, biographical film, martial arts film
Country
Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Runtime
2h 10m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 991 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

The film follows the life of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in 1930s China. It shows his martial arts mastery and personal journey through a time of national upheaval.

elegantcontemplativevisually lushpoeticslow-burnmelancholicintimatemeditative

What happens

The Grandmaster (Chinese: 一代宗师, Yi dai zong shi) is a 2013 martial arts drama film based on the life story of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man. The film was directed and written by Wong Kar-wai. A Hong Kong-Chinese co-production, it was released on 8 January 2013 in China, and screened as the opening film at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013. It was selected as part of the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival. The Weinstein Company acquired the international distribution rights for the film. The film was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, making the January shortlist, but ultimately did not receive the nomination. Despite this, the film was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. Although The Grandmaster was not as popular as others of Wong Kar-Wai's works in the western world, this film was highly-praised and applauded in the Chinese-speaking world for its profound philosophical depth, historical perspective, and break-through of the Kung-Fu film genre, further cementing Wong's "Grandmaster" Status in Chinese cinema. The film received a record-breaking 12 awards in the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards, most wins for a single film in history. Zhang Ziyi also received an unprecedented 12 different Best Actress awards for her performance. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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