Ip Man   Starring: Donnie Yen Cine-Asia RRP: £15.99 SBX460 Certificate: 15 Available 26 October 2009

Ip Man is the most renowned and respected teacher of the Chinese style martial art known as Wing Chun. In the street of martial arts rivalry for student is fierce but Ip Man holds himself above such things. His idyllic lifestyle is shattered when the Japanese invade his country, killing and imprisoning many. Ip Man undergoes a crisis of faith, questioning the worth of his previous life until he encounters the local Colonel, also a martial arts expert. The killing of his friend by the Colonel brings fresh focus into Ip Man’s life as he determines to kill the man who slaughtered his friend...

Ip Man (2008 - 1 hr, 46 min, 20 sec) is a semi-autobiographical movie about the man who first openly taught the Wing Chun style, a style that he passed on to Bruce Lee. Directed by Wilson Yip (Flash Point, Dragon Tiger Gate) from a script by Edmond Wong, the film won eleven awards and was nominated for a further eleven.

A biopic about a martial arts expert could have been just another excuse to demonstrate over the top moves and a lot of wire work, thankfully the makers of the film have chosen to concentrate on the story and character development. Not that there isn’t some wonderfully choreographed set piece, but for once they are there fully integrated into the movie and serve to drive the story forward.

To be honest I knew next to nothing about the life of Ip Man prior to watching the film. When we first meet him, superbly played by Donnie Yen, he is a wealthy man and although a master of his art he has no desire or incentive to open a school and teach others. His home is opulent and his wife (Xiong Dai-lin) beautiful. When he does fight it is only in private and the contests are always good natured. Even when a thug (Fan Sui-Wong) comes to town to beat all the masters and set up his own school Ip Man deals with him with courtesy. The first part of the film, prior to the invasion by the Japanese, has its lighter moments as we see a cultured and urbane man enjoying his wealth with a real humility.

Yen portrays Ip Man as a true gentleman in both senses of the word; his cultured world is shattered by the invasion of the Japanese. Here Ip Man finds something he has not encountered before, someone worth hating. The brutality of the invading force and the Chinese bandits persuade him to teach the mill workers how to defend themselves. This brings him to the attention of the commanding officer Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, who also gives a remarkable charismatic performance) who wants to prove that his Japanese style is better than Ip Man's Chinese style. The cultural, personal and competitive pressure means that the two men are on a course for a final conflict.

There is little to fault the film. The period settings are convincing, the acting just blew me away, but what most impressed me about the film is how they concentrated on this man’s life, rather than use it as an excuse to make another martial arts film.

Disc one holds a few minor extras in the form of four trailers, including the Theatrical Trailer (2 min, 17 sec), a Teaser Trailer (1 min, 13 sec), and TV spots one (31 sec) and two (31 sec). Audio on disc one is a choice between Cantonese 2.0 or 5.1.

Disc two is where the bulk of the extras reside. First up is five deleted scenes Bike Ride (18 sec), Tea House Fight (57 sec), Informing on Ip Man (1 min, 34 sec), Attacked by the Mob (47 sec) and Honourable End (1 min, 1 sec) apart from the last one which shows Miura’s fate the rest are really trims from sequences which are contained in the film. Gala Premiere (1 min, 48 sec) contains shots from said event set to the film music. Next up is three shorts about the location and set design with The Foshan Cotton Mill (2 min, 22 sec) about the transformation of an abandoned building into the period mill, Foshan’s Main Street and Mo Goon Street (2 min) looks at the work needed to turn these street back to their historical roots and Ip Man’s Residence (2 min, 3 sec).

There are a number of extras under the umbrella title of Making of. The Making of (18 min, 33 sec) looks at the construction of the film with contributions from cast and crew as well as Ip Man’s grandson. Pre-Production (2 min, 1 sec) comprises mostly shots set to the film's audio track, Shooting Diary (3 min, 25 sec) is similar in style, but this time comprises shots of the film being made and lastly there are a number of behind the scenes photos for you delectation. The disc is finished off with nine interviews of various lengths with cast and crew talking about the film, so you get Wilson Yip (23 min, 10 sec), Donnie Yen (22 min, 07 sec), Lam Ka-Tung (8 min, 55 sec), Hiroyuki Ikeuche (7 min, 43 sec), Ip Chun (3 min, 17 sec), Fan Sui-Wong (4 min, 48 sec), Xiong Dai-lin (7 min, 47 sec), Sammo Hung (8 min, 1 sec) and Simon Yam (2 min, 52 sec), apart from the director and fight choreographer most of the interviews follow a similar format with the actor introducing their character before discussing their role and the film in general.

The last extra on disc two is From Ip Man to Bruce Lee: Tracing the Legacy (14 min, 21 sec) which looks at the actual style of fighting. Unlike all the other extras which are in Cantonese, with English subtitles, the last extra is in English.

Like most I enjoy a good martial arts film, but I prefer a film with an engrossing storyline played out by engaging actors and in the case of Ip Man this film has both, add to that a pretty comprehensive set of extras and you have a very good package indeed..

9

Charles Packer