Technique "64 Palms" By Wong Karwai

Technique "64 Palms" By Wong Karwai
Technique "64 Palms" By Wong Karwai

Video: Technique "64 Palms" By Wong Karwai

Video: Technique "64 Palms" By Wong Karwai
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Anonim

Wong Karwai's new film The Great Master, the idea of which he has been hatching since 1999, is playing in cinemas. A film about kung fu, honor, love and China.

Technics
Technics

Finally, the seven-year (since the release of "My Blueberry Nights" in 2007) silence of the recognized master of Chinese cinema was broken. The picture appeared brightly, back in February, opening the Berlin Film Festival 2013, where, by the way, Carway himself was the chairman of the jury. Work on the film "The Great Master" lasted more than 5 years, the actors spent a little less time learning kung fu. Despite the fact that the director does not know Chinese martial arts, the strength of his admiration for them and hard work was enough to present the fighting in the film at the highest level. But first things first. As expected, Wong Karwai was not even going to fit into the biopic genre. Although the central theme of the plot is the life story of Ip Man, a great martial artist, there are references to specific time periods and footage in the film,stylized as a chronicle of war-torn China. "The Great Master" is also far from kung fu films in their usual sense, although there is plenty of fighting and blood in it. As well as recognizable features of the Karvayev style. It is these recognizable copyright signs that facilitate the immersion in the artistic space of the film with a high-quality picture familiar to the modern viewer, but with a rather alien theme. Especially for someone who, before that, not only did not know about the differences between the southern and northern schools of kung fu, about mono- and mixed styles of fighting, but even about Ip Man and that he was Bruce Lee's teacher, he heard for the first time. The lesson in philosophy of Chinese martial arts, thickly flavored with the wise sayings of the masters, turned out to be fascinating, and this is just one layer of the film. Yip Man (Tony Leung Chu Wai), a successful 40-year-old kung fu fighter,takes over from an already aging martial arts school leader, defeating him in a mental duel. Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), the daughter of a leader and heir to the unique generic style of wrestling "64 palms", does not want to modestly step aside and in a fight with Ip Man demonstrates her strength and wins. This is how the figures are placed in their places, as if on a chessboard. Further moves will be made, but at some point the field itself will be knocked out from under their feet - by war, betrayal, need - and leave the holistic and deep characters in limbo without connection with time and reality. Someone, like Ip Man, will be able to find support and move on their own path, someone, like Gong Er, despite the fact that she fulfills her moral duty, there will be no place in this world. Stunning beauty shots in "The Great Master" (blood coloring raindrops, fluffy snow, shots,shot in rapid) this time belong to Philippe Le Surd. With their perfection, they push what is happening on the screen from the depths of the charm, in which the joint works of Wong Karwai and Christopher Doyle remained. So the non-obvious beauty was transformed into an aesthetically perfect and rather versatile canvas. Most likely, and this too, not only the choice as the main character of Ip Man, who is very well known in China, influenced the film's incredible rolling success. The Great Master became the director's most watched film ever. The film's multi-layered plot, very Karvaevsky and epic, has all the “sick” points for the director: emigrants in Hong Kong, sad love, Chinese history, a code of honor, unshakable rules, fortitude of characters, the passage of time. And although the plot is based on the theme of kung fu and the biography of one of the masters, in fact, all of the above thoughts (in outline or completely finished) sound at the same volume level. It also cannot be said that the film is only about Ip Man. Initially, it was even going to be rolled under the title "Great Masters", which would be more correct. True kung fu fighters are humble and wise enough to recognize other strong warriors, and the film has a few true masters. Wong Karwai treated both personalities with due respect, forging the characters of the characters as strong as their palms during a fight, and to the philosophy of kung fu itself. He comments on his work on The Great Master as follows: “In one of the scenes in the film, we see a young man peeking out the window of a kung fu school just out of curiosity. It could well have been me when I was young. And in fact it is me - a director who satisfies my curiosity. This journey was incredibly exciting, there are so many levels and branches. I would like it to last longer”(“A great master is generosity and magnanimity”//“Art of cinema”. No. 3. 2013). Everyone missed Karwai, and watching The Great Master was extremely interesting. But for all the refinement and versatility of this film, it seems to disintegrate into these very plans, and it is not possible to absorb it entirely. There is no that cohesive atmosphere and some naivety that previously helped to perceive even more twisted constructions of the director. And this feeling cannot be attributed even to the lack of cultural codes encoded in the "Great Master" - Karvai adapted the film for a foreign audience, and it is in this version that we are running it. In his latest work, the director allegedly realized the idea of his character from "Mood for Love" and instead of loving, he went to write a book about martial arts.

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