A genius of wushu or the chinese martial arts school, ip man grew up in a china nearly ripped to pieces by racial hatred, nationalistic strife, and warfare. The movie is correct in showing a rather lavish home as ip man was born on october 1st, 1893 in foshan. Ip man 2 is a reminder of the pleasure of classic martialarts films in which skilled athletes performed many of their own stunts. Ip man is a 2008 hong kong semi biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of yip man, a grandmaster of the martial art wing chun and master of bruce lee. With donnie yen, simon yam, siuwong fan, ka tung lam. Its only about 150 miles, or 240 kilometers, to the north of hong kong. Sep 06, 2012 for the record, ip man and his assistant both trained bruce. The first green book was published in 1936 and continued to be published annually for the next 30 years. Behind every great man there lies a teacher, and this was certainly true of bruce lee, who claimed as his mentor a martial arts expert named ip man 18931972.
Aug 14, 2019 man died from complications of cancer on december 2, 1972, in hong kong. The movie portrays tony lip and don shirley using a green book as they travel through the south, which is true to real life. The book gives rare insight into the life, and teaching of this amazing man. Wilson yips film about bruce lees master stars a surprisingly subdued donnnniiieee, and qualifies as a successful action film with exciting choreography. A life the best biography on the late legendary kungfu master is the years of extensive, detailed research that goes into it. Ip man or yip man as many know him was a legend in his own time. A life begins with a brief prologue on lees funeral which took place in hong kong, 5 days after. The film focuses on events surrounding ip that took place in the city of foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the second sinojapanese war. It was created in an almost biographical style, highlighting parts of history. An occupying japanese general challenges chinese men to duels to prove the superiority of the japanese, but ip man refuses to fight at first. During his time in the police force, the incident where ip man broke a gun really did happen only a thief was holding the gun instead of a fellow officer as the film portrayed.
Feb, 2016 well, lets start with a bit of background information about the movie first. The film revolves around his time in foshan during the japanese occupation of china. During the japanese invasion of 1937, when a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home and work to support his family, he reluctantly agrees to train others in the art of wing chun for selfdefense. Ip man was an officer in the republic of china and was in the mainland through imperial japans invasion. In its direct and sincere approach, its a rebuke to the frenzied editing that reduces so many recent action movies into incomprehensible confusion. The legend is born full movie best hollywood action yip mans resistance against invading foreigners, along with his romantic relations while under the. There are simply terribly effective engagements between the japanese and the chinese martial artists. In contrast with the other ip man related projects, the grandmaster is a more reflective film, focusing more on the musings and philosophies between martial arts and life, as well as ip man s journey through the early 1930s to the early 1950s.
As a slice of history, ip man is disappointingly simplistic. The person is real, but the events depicted in the three movies were all fictional. Sammo hungs fight choreography is clever and exciting, with. Ip man 3, the latest installment in a series starring donnie yen as lees. There are lots of historical inaccuracies in the movie. There is no doubt that the history of yip man is very different than what is shown in the movie ip man. Jan 22, 2016 in bruce lees unfinished film game of death, there is a classic bout between lee and kareem abduljabbar. Ip man is only indirectly a biography and takes a lot of creative license in portraying the events around his time there. Ip man never worked in a coal mine, as the movie portrayed. Yip man was born in china and was considered a most esteemed wing chun teacher who had taught numerous students who later went on to become authorities in their own right. Jan 18, 2016 for the third and final time, donnie yen has fleshed out the legendary wing chun grandmaster and teacher of bruce lee, ip man, in wilson yips ip man 3 coming to the u. He was just a toddler when the qing government began to crack, and grew up during the turbulent years of a chinese war against japan and the internal boxer rebellion.
Donnie yen and fight choreographer yuen wooping return in ip man 3, the latest chapter in the saga of yip man, grandmaster of wing chun. Ip man the most historically inaccurate movie ever. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right. The real life ip man story told in the movies with donnie yen isnt true. A semibiographical account of yip man, the first martial arts master to teach the chinese martial art of wing chun. As the 19th century turned to the 20th, ip man benefited.
There doesnt seem to be a record of him dueling with any japanese. About the life of martial arts legend ip man by his son wing chun kung fu grandmaster ip ching. Struggling to make a living, master ip opens a kung fu school to bring his celebrated art of wing chun to the troubled youth of hong kong. His upbringing reflected his familys status he was a determined student and received a high level of education including college. As is still the custom, businesses and corporations in china were often built around family groupings of fathers, sons, sonsinlaw, cousins, uncles.
The history book man, the history book manluxembourg 2018 and w j rawkins military books are trading names for w. Since his death, many works have been made about his life, including the 2001 book ip man. During the japanese occupation he was a well respected police officer. With donnie yen, scott adkins, danny kwokkwan chan, vanness wu. These two men represent the greatest living source of ip mans. A first generation indianamerican explores her family history with the help of a magical pashmina. A real wing chun master explains its ok ip man 3 is mostly. Donnie brings his signature level of awesome to the action sequences and plays a calm controlled ip man in this fantastic movie.
During the japanese invasion of 1937, when a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home and work to support his family, he reluctantly agrees to train others in. The ip man 2 2010 teaser trailer is not cutting it any more. During lees alltoobrief career, he became a movie star in asia and, posthumously, in america. Ip man 3 is a wellmade chinese martial arts thriller. The film focuses on events in ips life that supposedly took place in the city of foshan during the sinojapanese war. This e book edition has been revised and updated with new research which was not available or was incomplete when the book was last revised in 1983. Ip man portrait of a kung fu master is authored by ip mans own son, wing chun grandmaster ip ching, and one of his top disciples, master ron heimberger.
Well, lets start with a bit of background information about the movie first. So with donnie popularizing the ip man bruce lee connection, others wanted to ride on the success of his movies. His martial arts education began at age under chan wahshun and continued throughout his early years. Ip man in the final scene from the film ip man we witness an incredible fight between two masters of martial arts, but this scene is so much more than a fight. So with donnie popularizing the ip manbruce lee connection, others wanted to ride on the success of his movies. For the record, ip man and his assistant both trained bruce. A working mom discovers she has superhero powers, suppressed by years of medication, and joins forces. Did ip man actually have a tournament bout with japanese. But as an exaggerated, mythmaking martialarts movie, ip man is often thrilling.
Yip man was born in 1893 to very wealthy parents ip oi dor and ng shui and was the third of four children. The progenitor of the series was ip man 2008, which followed by two sequels ip man 2 2010, ip man 3 2015, the spinoff master z. The ip man series, which began in 2008, is part history lesson, part legend building, with yen applying his formidable skills to the defeat of countless bad guys. Wing chun blog when it comes to people in history, there is always the legend, and then there is the real story behind the legend. This movie truly started the ip man movie craze and launched donnie yen even further into martial arts stardom. My late father, master ip man, actively promoted the art of wing chun after coming to hong kong in 1949. For instance the duel that you asked about, wiki states it never happened. Man died from complications of cancer on december 2, 1972, in hong kong. Since ip mans career is pretty well documented there are many accounts that can be studied and meditated upon. Martialarts master ip man donnie yen takes on a crooked developer mike tyson and his gang of brutal thugs. For instance, there are a couple funny scenes featuring ip mans most famous pupil in hong kong, bruce lee, but ip man began training bruce in 1954 or so, not 1959 as the movie suggests. However, the history and ongoing saga of ip man the movie has become legendary. At once beholden to the established conventions of the genre and delightfully subversive of them, ip man is one of the most exciting.
Im not saying deceiving camera angles and crafty stunt work arent involved in the fight scenes. In ip man 3, donnie yen brawls with mike tyson and. During the film, ip man lives in foshan with his family and leads a very prosperous life until japan occupies china in. What parts of the movie ip man are based on actual. Aug 11, 2015 assuming were talking about the first movie. As a recent historical figure, fans that enjoyed his movies have a chance to go out and collect more information about their new hero. However, its also a failed biopic with too much history whitewashed to placate the china audience. Im sure someone is trying to figure out how to continue the franchise, despite the finale part of the name.
The ip man trilogy is an outstanding package consisting of 4 discs. Watch and enjoy the life of ip man based on the released movies and his actual biography. Ip man was directed by wilson yip and written by edmond wong. Oct 06, 2014 in that sense ip man once again becomes very interesting. Whilst the book is surprisingly short it deserves a place on the bookshelf of any wing chun fan.
Jun fan bruce lee was born on november 27, 1940, in san francisco, california. Jan 22, 2016 donnie yen and fight choreographer yuen wooping return in ip man 3, the latest chapter in the saga of yip man, grandmaster of wing chun. Ip man is a 2008 hong kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of ip man, a grandmaster of the martial art wing chun and teacher of bruce lee. Donnie yen takes on the role of the famous instructor of the young bruce lee ip man or yip man. The book is good in terms of giving a quick insight into the life of ip man and the sort of person he was. Three of the 4 discs are represented by stories associated with time and history.
He was the son of a wealthy merchant named yip oi doh and his wife, madame ng. I am still waiting for the full the theatrical movie trailer of ip man 2 2010. Ip man internet movie firearms database guns in movies. Ip man 2 april 21, 2010 having defeated the best fighters of the imperial japanese army in occupied shanghai, ip man and his family settle in postwar hong kong. The army the duchy of warsaw 18071814 was first published as the army of poland 180714 in 1980 and has been out of print since 1984.
Ip man is a 2008 hong kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of yip man, a grandmaster of the martial art wing chun and master of bruce lee. Ip ching sifu to samuel kwok has laid out some of the key points in this book about ip mans life and his wing chun. Yip man, also known as ip man, was born on october 1, 1893, in foshan, china. Ip man never fought japanese karate exponents during the japanese occupation of hong kong in the first movie, and so on. The film focuses on events in ips life that supposedly took place in the city of foshan. Thats a city in the guangdong province of china, which is on the southern coast of the massive country. During the film, ip man lives in foshan with his family and leads a very prosperous life until japan occupies china in 1931. Ip man by wilson yip donnie yen, hiroyuki ikeuchi, fan. Despite the fact that you could probably find more than a dozen books about bruce lee in bookstores, what makes matthew pollys bruce lee.
It was raymond wongs idea to develop a biographical film about wing chun master ip man. Ip man, or yip man as hes also known, is considered the godfather and mentor of some of the most accomplished names in martial arts, including bruce lee and wong shun leung. Ip man by wilson yip donnie yen, hiroyuki ikeuchi, fan siu. His growing reputation soon brings challenges from powerful enemies, including preeminent hung gar. The ip man storyline was a guaranteed success as a movie and for the actor who played the role. Ip man was released in 2008 in china and is considered a biographical action drama film representing martial arts as well as the life of yip man. But i felt that the book was tainted by perhaps unintentional selfpraising as the book was centered around the author, ip chingalso a wing chun practitioner, one of ip mans sons. Grandmaster ip kai man october 1, 1893 december 2, 1972 was born in into the wealthy and wellknown family of ip oi dor and ng shui in foshan city, guangdong province, china. The book is full of photos of ip man and his students. Ip man is a series of hong kong biographical martial arts films based on the life events of the wing chun master of the same name. For the third and final time, donnie yen has fleshed out the legendary wing chun grandmaster and teacher of bruce lee, ip man, in wilson yips ip man 3 coming to the u.
A real wing chun master explains its ok ip man 3 is. He studied wing chun and went on to become one of the most respected martial arts masters of his time. Im not saying deceiving camera angles and crafty stunt work arent involved in the fight scenes here, but. Yip, wong, and yen never develop any real tension between ips true story and the exaggerated mythmaking of a martialarts movie. This scene is the culmination of the entire struggle that the chinese people have been through and ip mans victory stands as the first retaliation to their oppression, and in. May 03, 2019 in this video, we honor the real ip man story. At once beholden to the established conventions of the genre and delightfully subversive of them, ip man is one of the most exciting and refreshingly characterdriven. Principal photography began in shanghai in march 2008 and ended in august. Yip man was born in october 1893 in the town of fatshan in namhoi county, kwangtung province, in southern china.
This rare footage shows ip man, the chinese martial artist. The film was directed by wilson yip, and stars donnie yen as ip man, with martial arts choreography by. What parts of the movie ip man are based on actual historical. On the cover of some was the reminder, carry your green book with you, you may need it. Ip man is a 2008 hong kong martial arts film starring donnie yen as the title character, the martial artist who eventually become the master of bruce lee. Yip man grandmaster william cheungs global traditional. Donnie yen stars as the eminent wing chun martial arts grandmaster, yip man, who was renowned for teaching bruce lee the secrets of the art he became famous for. The first disc is a story about world war two with the empire of japan attempt to conquer china. So with that being said, let us take a look at the real ip man the real life story at the root is the story of ip man true. Having defeated the best fighters of the imperial japanese army in occupied shanghai, ip man and his family settle in postwar hong kong.