BERLIN â" This yearâs Berlin International Film Festival had one of its flashiest opening-night films in some time with ââThe Grandmaster,ââ the eagerly anticipated new movie from the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai.
Mr. Wongâs 10th feature and his first since the American road movie âMy Blueberry Nightsâ (2007), âThe Grandmasterâ revolves around the ascendancy of Ip Man, the kung fu master best known as Bruce Leeâs teacher. Itâs a story that has been told several times on screen, most recently in popular biopics starring Donnie Yen. But Mr. Wong, an incorrigible romantic stylist, tells it his own way, alternating between melancholic reverie and flurries of choroeographed acion, lingering on moments out of time and the beauty of his stars, Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang.
Mr. Wong is also the president of the Berlinale jury, which includes the actor Tim Robbins, the filmmakers Susanne Bier and Athina Rachel Tsangari, the cinematographer Ellen Kuras and the artist Shirin Neshat.
Earlier this week Mr. Wong, wearing his customary sunglasses and smoking out the window of a hotel room at the Ritz Carlton here, took time out from his busy viewing schedule to discuss âThe Grandmaster,â which the Weinstein Company will release in the United States this year. Here are edited excerpts:
Q.
Do you have a favorite martial arts or kung fu film
A.
I think âFists of Furyâ is good and also some of the early Shaw Brothers films.
Q.
What are the differences between the international version that was shown here and the one that was released in China last month
Q.
We have a time limit [for the international version] so itâs 10 minutes shorter. We rearranged a few scenes, especially in the beginning and the end, so the film could be more straightforward and more accessible for international audiences. In the Chinese version thereâs an epilogue, and itâs more open in a way.
Q.
I understand this is a film youâve been wanting to make for a long time.
A.
When I was shooting âHappy Togetherâ in Argentina [in 1996], one day we were shooting a scene with Leslie [Cheung] and Tony [Leung] in the train station. Iâd walk around to the magazine stands and I was amazed to see Bruce Lee on a cover of a magazine in Buenos Aires â" meaning they considered him a hero 20 years after he passed away and in such a faraway world.
But that wasnât really the reason. Around 1999 I watched the home movies of the grandmaster Ip Man, shot, three days before he died by his son in his living roomâ" you can see heâs over 70, very weak, in his pajamas, with his grandchild, and heâs doing a demonstration. His son told me that one morning he called up and said, âI want you to make a record of this.â And he did a demonstration of the 108 combinations, the core of the Wing Chun technique. It wasnât until the end when he put his hand on his tummy â" the camera doesnât catch his face but you can tell from his back that itâs agonizing.
Heâs too weak or too sick or heâs simply forgotten how, and to me that moment is very moving. Thereâs a Chinese concept about carrying on the fire â" at the end of the Chinese version I have one scene in a temple, an amazing 1,400-year-old temple, totally in clay and well preserved, and thereâs one shot where all the lights are lit.
Thatâs the reason I wanted to make this film â" itâs about this generosity, the responsibility to pass on this fire. And thatâs why I donât call this film âIp Manâ but âThe Grandmaster.â! Itâs r! eally about the path of a grandmaster and the quality of a grandmaster.
Q.
Could you say a bit about your research process for this film
A.
I spent two years on research, going through books, magazines, archives, photos. The film is not just about one person but about a force, a period, the golden time of modern martial arts history. But I realized itâs more than that, you canât just know this way of thinking without meeting the people who teach it. After âMy Blueberry Nights,â I spent three years on the road. Starting from Beijing I went from town to town to interview hundreds of masters.
Today in China martial arts is considered more of a sport â" theyâve combined all the schools into one form, and thereâs no teachers and students, but more like coaches and athletes. The structure is different and the philosophy is different; some people consider it like yoga, something good for health. ut in the classic sense, the difference between martial arts and sport is that itâs a weapon, something to defend yourself and a skill that can kill. When you have a chance to meet these martial artists, you realize that the more established the masters, the more humble they are â" theyâre very cautious about passing on this skill because they know itâs a lethal weapon.
Q.
Do you see âThe Grandmasterâ as a genre film
A.
I wouldnât call this a kung fu film â" itâs more like âOnce Upon a Time in Kung Fu.â On the first night, when I introduced the film, I said to the audience, âIf you are a hard-core kung fu fan, this is a film for you. But if this is your first kung fu film, even better.â If the kung fu genre is not your cup of tea, then itâs about time for you to change. This film is not about only kicks and punches, because itâs about two generations of martial artists and their philosophies. Some of them are ! real figu! res, who stood up for their principles through the most difficult times of their country. I think itâs a film that could show an audience more about China, as opposed to just martial arts.
Q.
This is the second time youâve been jury president at a major film festival. You headed the Cannes jury in 2006 [when Ken Loachâs âWind That Shakes the Barleyâ won the Palme dâOr] â" is this experience any different
A.
I always tell the jury members the same thing, which is that weâre not here to judge films. Weâre here to champion the films we really believe in, and that are really important for the time.