Ip Man (Tony Leung), known as the martial-arts master who trained Bruce Lee, takes center stage in this sumptuously choreographed epic from Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love and My Blueberry Nights). With a reputation built on exquisitely crafted tales of buried romantic longing, Kar-wai has dabbled in action in the past — Ashes of Time — and The Grandmaster blends and blurs these two genres with enough panache to attract presenters Martin Scorsese and Samuel L. Jackson to lend their names and cache to the proceedings. Let the battle commence! Opens Aug. 30 at Esquire Theater. (PG-13) Not screened in time for review
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2013.