'The Grandmaster': A Punched-Up Kung-Fu Saga

The American version of director Wong Kar-Wai's new film tells a different story than the original version.

By DON STEINBERG

Published on August 15, 2013 in Wall Street Journal News

Cinema snobs have been suggesting that the U.S. version of "The Grandmaster," Wong Kar Wai's art-house kung-fu film that opens on Aug. 23, is dumbed down from the original version that made its debut in China earlier this year. It has been edited so Americans can understand what's happening amid all the dreamy photography, Chinese history and martial-arts action. This push for clarity isn't necessarily a bad thing, although Mr. Wong and his film's stars put it another, kinder way during their visit to New York this week.

"The U.S. version is more straightforward and linear," Mr. Wong explains. "The Chinese audience is more interested in experiencing the history. In the U.S., it's more about the story."

"I think it's wise for him to do a version for Americans," says Tony Leung, who plays the lead role of Ip Man, the real-life Chinese martial arts grandmaster of the early 20th century who famously was Bruce Lee's childhood instructor. "It's much easier for them to follow."

"In my opinion, I like the American one," says Zhang Ziyi, who in her role as the headstrong Gong Er is Ip Man's (fictitious) romantic interest and fighting rival. "It's clearer. Easier for foreigners."

American fans of import films have learned to brace themselves when overseas arrivals like "The Grandmaster" debut here, hoping that the releases aren't neutered edits of the originals. Like many successful Asian movies in recent years, the film is presented in the U.S. by the Weinstein Co., whose co-chairman Harvey Weinstein has earned the nickname "Harvey Scissorhands" for his insistence that foreign films he distributes be chopped up and remixed to become more amenable to Yankee tastes. (Mr. Weinstein declined to comment for this story.)

Mr. Wong and members of his cast believe many references in the original version might be simply lost on non-Chinese audiences. Mr. Leung says the movie in its original state reminded him of the martial arts novels he grew up reading. "But Westerners can't connect. They don't have this culture," he says. So the U.S. version is less about Chinese tradition and more focused as a narrative about Ip Man.

Some directors are less than thrilled when American distributors request significant alterations. But Mr. Wong's film-building style lends itself to this sort of culturally customized editing, and he says he embraced it. Mr. Wong, whose work as a director/writer includes "Chungking Express" (1994), "In the Mood For Love" (2000), and "2046" (2004), is known for deciding how to arrange the pieces of his films in the editing room, long after the cast and production crew have gone home.

"There's no script. You don't know the schedule," says Ms. Zhang, known for her roles in Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Zhang Yimou's "Hero." "Every day before shooting we will get two pages. When we were doing '2046' it was handwriting. Now he's typing."

The Asian version of "The Grandmaster" is 130 minutes long. The European version that premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February is 122 minutes. The U.S. cut is down to a tight 108 minutes. "I took it as a challenge," Mr. Wong says. "Instead of doing a short version, I wanted to do a new version. I wanted to tell the story in a different way."

Zhang Ziyi, the co-star of the blockbuster "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and China's biggest female star, offers a sneak peek at her new movie “The Grandmaster,” directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Check back in to wsj.com/Speakeasy for the full interview.

Filming on "The Grandmaster" started in 2009 and consumed 22 months over three years, ending last September. Mr. Wong was inspired when he saw Bruce Lee on a magazine cover in 1997 and later saw a film (then rare, now on YouTube) of an elderly Ip Man displaying some of his moves. Mr. Wong announced his Ip Man project 10 years ago. Meanwhile, action star Donnie Yen has made two films portraying Mr. Ip, and director Herman Yau has made two films about Mr. Ip, nearly turning the martial arts master into a movie superhero. Mr. Wong's only prior martial-arts film, "Ashes of Time" (1994), was a swordsmen-in-ancient-China story about a loss of chivalry. It was produced before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China, when fears of a break from the past were rife. Mr. Wong came to see "The Grandmaster" as another way to examine how traditions are passed down, or sometimes lost, in an age when China is aggressively modernizing.

The fight scenes remain mostly the same, stylized but with real thump, less ethereal than those in "Crouching Tiger." Much else in "The Grandmaster" has been rearranged for American viewers. Ancillary characters are diminished. Subtitles are tweaked to streamline the plot, which involves rivalries vying to replace an old grandmaster, their coming together during the Japanese occupation that began in the late 1930s, and a romance.

"We were able to replace some of the scenes, specifically in relation to the historical context, with clear and concise captions and narration to help the audience understand the challenges faced between North and South, and especially during the Japanese invasion, " Mr. Wong says. Historical exposition near the beginning of the Chinese version is excised and relegated to a flashback near the end.

"The first 30 minutes of the film are about the old grandmaster, before his retirement, coming to the South. He's going to offer a chance to a local fighter," Mr. Wong explains, laying out a story line he hopes Americans can sink their teeth into. "He's almost like Apollo Creed in 'Rocky.' "