Ip Man

Grandmaster Ip Man trained Bruce Lee. Frankly, he could have done nothing else and died a proud and happy man. But he also survived the Japanese invasion of China, publicly defeated their martial artists and escaped to Hong Kong as WWII raged around him. Well, according to Ip Man he did, anyway. This action biopic plays as fast and loose with historical fact as a beating from Iron Monkey and Hero star Donnie Yen, but it scores points for asserting the master’s Confucian life philosophies and the defiance of the Chinese under occupation (thankfully without sliding into full-on jingoism). The conventional narrative eschews the slapstick humour and structural tangents of many Hong Kong films, its focus never deviating from Ip Man, his family and his frankly astonishing ability to mete out a severe doin’. Yes, the fights are brilliant, Sammo Hung’s choreography junking high wire hi-jinks in favour of ground level scrapping with real emotional gravitas. Bruce would be proud.