The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-wai, 2013)

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I missed my chance to see the 3D version, but from what I can determine, the scene they're referring to was already in the U.S. cut (and barely qualifies as a "fight sequence"). I've read a fair deal about the 3D version and the only differences it seems to have from the U.S. cut are a couple of additional "easter eggs" during the closing credits—one with Zhao Benshan (in what context, I don't know) and another with Gong Er demonstrating the 64 Hands for Yip Man. (I also assume all the English captions were changed to Chinese.)

[Zot!]

I don't know if I'm just getting sentimental, but I watched this again on streaming and kind of fell in love with it. The first time around I was sort of caught up in the frustration of the competing regional cuts and post Blueberry Nights WKW malaise, but this time all I noticed with how beautiful it is. I don't know if it gets a lot of press, but the costuming in the WKW films is just amazing. Is this still waiting a Criterion release, or should I just get the Lionsgate BD? If I'm not mistaken it's still the best looking one, and honestly with how each cut contains unique footage, I think I would be happy with the one with the best picture quality rather than favoring a particular version. I don't know what Weinstein imposed on this, but it is still very Chinese in its form, and hardly friendly for mainstream Western viewers.

[colinr0380]

I think it worked really well approaching The Grandmaster as less in the tradition of kung fu films but more as Wong Kar-Wai doing something in the tradition of Sergio Leone. Then the big stand off scenes, the elaborate set pieces that seem only to be there to show off the gorgeous photography, and the operatic performances including the tragic heroine rebelling against the patriarchy but going too far in the pursuit of revenge until she disappears in a puff of delirious opium smoke, all feels very Leone-esque.

[thirtyframesasecond]

It's a huge shame that his filmmaking career has just stalled, though he was announced to be replacing Ridley Scott as director of the House of Gucci at one point!

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I have both the 130 and 108 minute cuts so I'm biased in loving this quite a bit too!

I think it worked really well approaching The Grandmaster as less in the tradition of kung fu films but more as Wong Kar-Wai doing something in the tradition of Sergio Leone.

That's very interesting. As someone who finally watched the Dollars trilogy and OUATIA this year, I have to say this insight really sticks out for me. I wish some of the set pieces in the WKW had that operatic intensity of TGTBTU but I could see them being in conversation. That said, thank god this movie got me into kung fu movies proper because otherwise I'd be missing quite a bit of the genre otherwise.

[colinr0380]

That waiting for the arrival of the train sequence really stands out to me in particular because it feels both a reference to Once Upon A Time In The West's opening scene but also beautifully combined with Wong Kar-Wai's particular sensibilities, as instead of just being bored during the interminable wait instead the character spends the time reminiscing in characteristic time dilation style.

[tenia]

130 and 108 min ? Damn, the new French release is 130 min and 123 min. I forgot there was a third cut.

[Zot!]

I'm going to see if I can find some interviews how the collaboration got started, because I believe this was their first time working together, but the DP on this was Philippe Le Sourd (who apparently got a Oscar nom for this, deservedly so), but truly it's like everybody in the art department was just incredible. Also Leone-esque to me is the recurrent close up of amazing faces in the film, both comic and classically statuesque. It seems a really interesting decision to have Zhang Ziyi wear very natural make-up in this. It must have been an intentional distinction as the women of the brothel are in contrast otherwise very made up. Still a very interesting non-traditional approach for a glamorous female lead, but of course she's more than up to the task.

EDIT: Lots of interesting interviews available concerning the production, definitely worth the time if you like the film. Amusing anecdote I was unaware of:

Wong, 57, sat on the patio of a hotel in Beverly Hills, inhaling a steady stream of cigarettes and wearing his signature sunglasses. (He owns only one pair, he said, custom-made for him by a Japanese artisan who also makes samurai swords.)

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I don't know how they came together in the first place, but Wong had previously done advertising work with Le Sourd, like "There's Only One Sun" for Philips and "Midnight Poison" for Christian Dior.

It's been much too long since I've watched any version of the film and I only saw the U.S. cut once, but my preference was definitely for the 130-minute version, mainly for the more ruminative, less overtly triumphalist ending (that's not even getting into the silly mid-credits scene in the shorter cuts, which is still of interest for its glimpses of deleted action scenes). But there are some changes in the 123-minute version I liked, such as the added flashback to Gong Er's childhood and the flashback to Ip Man's childhood (with Yuen Wo-ping cameoing as his master) being moved from the beginning of the film to the end. The American cut removed far too much of the buildup to the North vs. South tournament and the Gong Er revenge subplot, with the result that the tournament itself took far more prominence and the film felt closer to a more conventional kung-fu narrative like the Donnie Yen Ip Man series, even if it's impossible to imagine a tournament with Yen's Ip Man culminating in something like the "cookie duel" in The Grandmaster.

130 and 108 min ? Damn, the new French release is 130 min and 123 min. I forgot there was a third cut.

Thank you for mentioning this, since I'm not sure I would've noticed it otherwise. The only Blu-rays with the 130-minute cut have terrible encodes and I hope the French BD finally does it justice.

[Zot!]

130 and 108 min ? Damn, the new French release is 130 min and 123 min. I forgot there was a third cut.

Thank you for mentioning this, since I'm not sure I would've noticed it otherwise. The only Blu-rays with the 130-minute cut have terrible encodes and I hope the French BD finally does it justice.

The HK Blu-ray that had the 130min version that has English subs is back in print, but that is the "terrible encode" you're referring to. If the French one is decent, I might procure it for the visuals alone as having both longer cuts in one package is tempting. The US 108 minute version is still readily available on the cheap. I guess all this lends WKW credence that he's can be just as revisionist in real time as he when he's revisiting his films.