Oscar predictions 2014: The Grandmaster

Published on September 24, 2013 in the Guardian

Our series continues with a look at Wong Kar-wai's martial arts epic, Hong Kong's representative in the race

The Grandmaster

Production year: 2013

Country: Hong Kong

Runtime: 130 mins

Directors: Wong Kar-Wai

Cast: Tony Leung, Woo-ping Yuen, Zhang Ziyi

What's it all about?

A two-hour-plus treatment of the complicated life of Ip Man, wing chun master and legendary teacher, who died in 1972 aged 79. Apart from his own accomplishments, Ip gained posthumous renown after one of his students, Bruce Lee, achieved worldwide fame as a film actor. With Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in the lead role, The Grandmaster covers his tumultuous early life, against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, up until his death. It's full of elaborate, emotionally charged confrontations with Ip's challenger Gong Er (played by Zhang Ziyi). How did it happen?

After the 2007 fiasco that was My Blueberry Nights, director and sunglasses devotee Wong Kar-wai has stayed quiet, releasing only Ashes of Time Redux, a reworking of his 1994 film Ashes of Time. He spent three years researching martial arts and shooting this one, which was bankrolled largely by American producer Megan Ellison. China got the full 130-minute cut of the film but the US – at the behest of Harvey "Scissorhands" Weinstein – saw one that came in well under two hours.

Nominations it wants

Best foreign language would be its most likely berth, and it's just cleared the first hurdle, having been picked by Hong Kong as its representative. With Weinstein's legendary campaigning skills, you'd expect it to be there on awards night. Any other noms would be a long shot.

What it might win

As above. Hong Kong has never won the best foreign Oscar. At this stage the smart money is on Saudi Arabia's Wadjda. But they don't have Weinstein in their corner.

Reasons to fall for it

It really is an amazing-looking, brilliantly-made film, a thoroughly Wongian (or should that be Wongesque?) take on a familiar, easily-digestible genre. Wong, for better or worse, remains a proper auteur, who goes his own way; the Academy may well see this as an opportunity to say thanks.

Reasons it might fail

The Grandmaster is no Crouching Tiger: where the latter was all high-bounding joie de vivre, Wong's film is solemn, stately, and not exactly easy to disentangle. The purist art-cinema crowd will admire it, but it will struggle to entice the Hollywood mainstream.

When can we see it?

It's been and gone in the US, though on past form there may be a small re-release to snare Oscar-related buzz. No UK release appears to be imminent, sadly, so unless you were in Berlin you may not get to see it on the big screen.

In six words

In the mood for kung fu.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/sep/24/oscar-predictions-2014-grandmaster