Ip Man (5 Stars)

Is this another film that should be in my top 50 films list? Maybe, maybe not. It's a borderline case. According to my notes I included it in my top 100, but it was eliminated from the top 50.

Whether or not it makes it into my final cut, this is a magnificent film. It's possibly the best film that Donnie Yen has ever made. I know Donnie himself would disagree with me. He says that "Ip Man 2" is his best film. It's difficult for me to decide which I prefer most of the first two Ip Man films. I used to like the second film more, but now I've changed my mind. It all depends on what you're looking for. The second film has more spectacular fighting scenes, whereas the first film is more emotional.

It could be argued that the first film is disjointed. It's a film in two parts. The first 35 minutes takes place in 1935, before Japan invaded China, and the last hour takes place in 1938, after the Japanese invasion. I don't find anything wrong with this. The film is based on true events, and reality rarely takes place smoothly. This is reflected in films based on true stories. Maybe "Ip Man" could have been divided into two films, but I personally like the fact that the events of these two times periods are shown side by side. This emphasises the change in Ip Man's life. In the first part of the film he's a man of wealth who has no need to work. In the second part he's been dispossessed by the Japanese and is forced to work as a coal miner for a poor wage.

As to the accuracy of the film in its relation to the real events of Ip Man's life, a friend of mine who knows more about him than I do summed up the three films in the Ip Man trilogy: "The first film is fairly accurate, the second film is a even mix of real and fictitious events, the third film is almost entirely fictional".

In my previous reviews I've failed to point out that the cinematography is appropriately different in the two parts. In the first part the colours are bright, showing the beauty of pre-war China. In the second part the colours are subdued, with a lot of grey and brown, showing the ugliness of the Japanese occupation.

Connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine will notice that the restaurant visited by Ip Man is serving Dim Sum. In Birmingham there are several Dim Sun restaurants, but I've never seen any in America or Germany. How many of my friends have eaten Dim Sun?

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