Ip Man 4 (5 Stars)

This is a film that was sprung on me. I didn't know that it had been made, and I didn't even know it was planned, until I saw it advertised at Cineworld Broad Street yesterday. It would only be screened once, today at 7:30 pm, so I knew I had to see it.

I was lucky to get a seat. I arrived an hour early, and most of the seats were booked, forcing me to sit in the fourth row, further forward than I prefer to sit. When the film began the whole cinema was packed, including every seat on the front row. I hope the film's success will persuade the cinema to show it again next week.

I expected "Ip Man 3" to be the last film in the series. Donnie Yen didn't want to make another film after "Ip Man 2" and had to be persuaded by a generous payment. Obviously he's been bribed again, which I don't mean in a bad way. The film series needed closure.

"Ip Man 4" has a lower key than the previous films, and it's more emotional. At the beginning of the film Ip Man is told that he has throat cancer, which casts a shadow over the whole film.

Most of the film takes place in America, although it was actually filmed in northern England. That must have been a cheaper filming location, and it was excellently suited for reproducing 1964 America. Ip Man travels to San Francisco to find a suitable private school for his rebellious son, Ip Ching. He's surprised to find several of his old friends living in America, friends that we know from the earlier films. He visits the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) to request a letter of recommendation for the school, but this is conditional on him telling his former student, Bruce Lee, to stop teaching martial arts to Americans. Ip Man refuses, and he doesn't get the letter his son needs.

The Chinese complain that the Americans (i.e. the white Americans) are racists towards the Chinese, but it's mutual. The Chinese refer to the Americans as whiteys. Only Ip Man stands above the racial disputes and wants all to get along with one another in peace. He thinks that Americans can benefit from Chinese culture.

Can the Chinese also benefit from American culture? Yonah, the daughter of the president of the CBA, is a high school cheerleader, much to the disgust of her father. She finds cheerleading more interesting than martial arts, and she even wants to perform a cheerleading dance at the Chinese Midsummer Festival. She's right. Every culture has its strengths, and we should keep an open mind about sampling what other countries have to offer. Even cheerleading.

The main tension in the film is brought on by the attempt to introduce Chinese martial arts into the training of the American army. The gunnery sergeant refuses, saying that karate is superior to Chinese fighting styles. Wait... isn't karate originally Chinese? According to Wikipedia it was developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which changed hands between China and Japan several times. Karate certainly isn't a white American fighting style.

This is definitely the final Ip Man film. It neatly closes the series. I greatly enjoyed the film, and it's a last minute addition to my top 10 film list for 2019.