IP MAN (HONG KONG, 2008)

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

106 minutes, 35mm, in Cantonese with English subtitles

Directed by: Wilson Yip

Starring: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Fan Siu-wong

Showtimes:

Mon June 22, 7:15pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].

Mon June 29, 2:50pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].

Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately. 

Hong Kong Film Awards – 2008

Winner – “Best Film”

Winner – “Best Action Design” – Sammo Hung & Tony Leung Siu-hung

Bruce Lee’s master, and the man who taught him wing chun, is Ip Man. Because Hong Kong directors can’t make a movie about Bruce Lee (due to how his image is controlled by his family) they’ve engaged in an arms race to make a project about Ip Man, instead. Wong Kar-wai has an Ip Man project all lined up starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and director Wilson Yip (SPL, FLASHPOINT) also had an Ip Man project lined up, this one starring Donnie Yen. Guess what? Wilson Yip won the war, and IP MAN is the result. Winner of “Best Film” and “Best Action Design” at the Hong Kong Film Awards, this flick is an incredible throwback to the early 90’s when Hong Kong action artists like Jackie Chan were setting the silver screen on fire.

Foshan, 1935: Ip Man (Donnie Yen, AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS) lives in a nice house with his wife and kid, occasionally resorting to a little polite kung fu to teach folks what’s what. Enter Fan Siu-wong (STORY OF RICKY) playing Master Jin, a redneck kung fu killer looking to set up shop on Dojo Street after tearing through the local martial artists like they’re a bunch of paper napkins. Master Jin’s path of destruction leads him to Donnie’s doorstep and it’s on. Donnie is the chiropractor, giving adjustments and aligning spines with his rock hammer fists. He’s an advocate of wing chun, a softer southern style that was invented by a nun and is considered sissy stuff. But after you taste his fists of fury you’ll be begging for mercy. At the end of each fight, like a pugilistic Dr. Phil, he even lectures his foes on how to fix their personality problems. Then the Japanese arrive. Uh-oh, it’s World War II. Like the real Ip Man, Donnie refuses to teach the Japanese wing chun. Unlike the real Ip Man, his rejection letter is delivered in the form of a massive one-against-twelve beatdown.

IP MAN is a high point for all involved: a rip-roaring action blow-out that features peerless fighting skills from real martial artists like Donnie Yen, Fan Siu-wong and the evil Japanese commandant played by judo expert, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi. With action choreography by the legendary Sammo Hung, and with director Wilson Yip lending the proceedings a classy air, this is the Hong Kong movie you’ve been looking for.