Old-Style Kung Fu Movie; Modern Cinematography

[Bill Glasheen]

.......... HEADS UP

*** This movie is Chinese with subtitles ***

Be sure to see The Grandmaster whenever you can.

As I wrote in a Fandango review... This is a bit like Titanic - a fiction within a historical setting. But rather than rich vs. poor, you have Northern Bagua and XingYi vs. Southern Wing Chun. Uechika will recognize the places, the masters, and the styles. Historians will recognize the many phases of Chinese history, and the tragedies brought about by multiple occupations. And then there is the story about how the West discovered these Eastern arts.

Make no mistake about it; this movie is Wing Chun propaganda. The insufferable you-aren't-doing-true-Wing-Chun crowd will have their heads swollen a bit over this piece. (We don't have any of *those* types in Uechi now, do we? ) But it's well worth giving them their 15 minutes of fame, as the movie is good and the style - absent a handful of boneheaded players - is worthy. The Wing Chun propagandists can also be forgiven their glossing over the issues related to "claiming" Bruce Lee. (Bruce Lee didn't return the favor.) All that said, go see it. It's eye candy for the martial arts movie aficionado.

Oh... there's also romance, history, tales of honor, and great cinematography. And did I mention that it's a martial arts movie? There's wall-to-wall kung fu fighting.

Tank up on caffeine; the pace varies. (One annoying asswipe in front of me fell asleep and was snoring.) Bring your honey. Teenage and up OK. Be prepared to give your kids a history lesson if you bring them. (Be sure *you* know your history of British and Japanese occupation, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution.) Enjoy.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

And in case you haven't seen it... There is this film.

..... Ip Man (2008)

See both movies and you'll see what I mean about fiction placed in a historical setting. The plotlines differ quite a bit. The current movie has Yip Man being bested by a woman who practices Northern Kung Fu (Bagua and XingYi). He in fact pines for her in China and through to Hong Kong where tragedy ensues. The current movie also speaks of two daughters who starved to death during the Japanese occupation. None of this is written about in the 2008 film, which makes no reference to outside romances and brothels spoken about in the contemporary film.

I did find the ending of the 2008 film rather amusing where - in subtitles - it refers to China defeating Japan. No reference is made to outside forces which may have helped tip the balance there. But then I think the U.S. was not the intended market for this film.

See the two films and you'll note just a couple of historical consistencies. Yip Man was born to wealth, and was basically a married martial arts bum. Only Japanese occupation and subsequent extreme poverty forced him to teach so he could eat. Life happens.

[MikeK]

Only Japanese occupation and subsequent extreme poverty forced him to teach so he could eat.

I wouldn't take anything in the films seriously or as close to accurate history. From what I understand Ip was a policeman both before, during and after the Japanese occupation and only high tailed it to Hong Kong when the Communists took over (being somewhat rich was frowned upon).

The irony is that when the borders with the mainland closed he was one of the few (or only?) Wing Chun seniors not stuck in China. If that event didn't happen he would have been one of several WC masters around and the West would have had other lineages available.

[Glenn]

This one is pretty good too, with a newcomer starring as a younger Ip Man.

The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (2010)

One of the more noteworthy aspects of this film is Ip Man's son, Ip Chun, in a lengthy scene playing Leung Bik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5uL4dD4YJI

The blind-folded sticky-hands scene between long-time kung fu movie stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Bao is pretty good too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVKn66HEFuo

Ip Man is a very popular subject of kung fu movies currently.

[Bill Glasheen]

Mike

I think you're mostly making my point.

From what I understand Ip was a policeman both before, during and after the Japanese occupation

Sources please.

All I have is the sources I presented. I have since checked with Wikipedia, and it fleshes the story out a bit more.

• Ip man was a policeman on and off per the Wikipedia reference.
  .....
• He was born into wealth, and so didn't have to work. (Read the Wikipedia reference, which confirms this.) He was in fact quite wealthy and comfortable for about the first 40 years of his life before the Japanese occupation. He taught on and off before then, but didn't keep students for very long.
  .....
• Once the Japanese occupied the region, they seized his home and turned it into their regional military headquarters. It is at this point that he was instantly rendered poor. The Japanese occupation was also allegedly responsible for many of the businesses going under that drove the regional economy.
  .....
• Many martial artists fled China for Hong Kong during and after the Japanese occupation. They did this to find work so they could support their families. It was made necessary by the complete collapse of many local economies. Without that, much of what we now know as Chinese martial arts would have been unknown to the West.
  .....
• Only after the Communists took over did the traveling in-between Hong Kong and China end. Many who were in Hong Kong became stuck there. The same was true for those in China.
  .....
• It's also worth mentioning, Mike, that the concept of a fixed style was foreign to the Chinese. What you see with Uechi, Wing Chun, and other remnants of China martial arts is a snapshot in fluid time. When folks went back to the place where Kanbun studied, it wasn't possible to find his original art being practiced. The same could possibly be said for Wing Chun. We think it's abnormal for a style to keep changing, while those who were such prolific choreographers considered it the norm.

Bill

[jorvik]

Quote
"It's also worth mentioning, Mike, that the concept of a fixed style was foreign to the Chinese. What you see with Uechi, Wing Chun, and other remnants of China martial arts is a snapshot in fluid time. When folks went back to the place where Kanbun studied, it wasn't possible to find his original art being practiced. The same could possibly be said for Wing Chun. We think it's abnormal for a style to keep changing, while those who were such prolific choreographers considered it the norm."


I think the problem here is that people tend to think that the kata is the style when it isn't, at least in Wing chun. That is why you get so much variation. A bong Sau is used the same whichever style of Wing chun you do, it may just appear in the form at different points. The changes are continuing to this day, I know of a senior student of Wong Sheung Lung who has dropped the first movements of the first form.if you undertsand his reasoning behind this then you understand the principles of Wing chun, but if you don't then you don't really understand the form .The same was true of Yip Man, he changed a lot of things in his form, and you can find different people that he taught doing things differently.while still adhearing to the same or similar principles..you can also find people who have either not been shown the principles or been shown them incorrectly and are doing things in a different manner.......I know of one Preying Mantis master who totally dropped the teaching of forms and just taught the kung fu.so it seems it's common to a few styles.