Ip Man (Chinese: 叶问 / 葉問) 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 martial artist legend Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen as the main character, with martial arts choreography by Sammo Hung. The film co-stars Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, and Tenma Shibuya. The film was a co-production between China and Hong Kong, and was the last film to be distributed by Mandarin Films.
Ip Man is the first film in the Ip Man film series. It premiered in Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Before the film's release, Raymond Wong announced that there would be a sequel; a second installment titled Ip Man 2, was released in April 2010, a third installment titled Ip Man 3 was released in 2015, and Ip Man 4: The Finale was released in 2019. Ip Man grossed more than US$22 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.
Plot In 1935, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where the various schools' students compete against each other. Ip Man, the most skilled martial artist in town, maintains a low profile while building a reputation for skill through friendly, closed-door competitions with other masters. One day, a local troublemaker named Yuan loses his kite, which lands in a tree in the Ip family's backyard. While retrieving it, Yuan witnesses Ip defeating fellow kung fu master Liu in a sparring match, and spreads the news around town, inadvertently embarrassing Liu. Yuan's brother Lin, a restaurant owner and disciple of Liu, publicly causes embarrassment to Yuan as he tries to arrange a rematch between Liu and Ip.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip and his family are forced to move into a decrepit apartment after the Imperial Japanese Army confiscates the house for use as their military headquarters. Desperate to support his family, Ip finds work at a coal mine alongside Lin, who hopes to reconcile with his brother for humiliating him but has so far failed to track him down. General Miura, a Japanese Karate master, sets up an arena where Chinese martial artists can fight with his military trainees for a bag of rice. Former police officer Li Zhao, now an interpreter for the Japanese, offers the martial artists the opportunity to fight in the arena. Ip at first declines to participate, but agrees to go following Lin's disappearance after taking part.
At the arena, Ip witnesses Liu being executed by Miura's deputy Colonel Sato, for picking up a bag of rice from a prior victory after surrendering in a second match against three karateka. Deducing that Lin was killed in his fight against Miura, Ip demands a match with ten karateka at once, whom he brutally defeats. His skill arouses the interest of Miura, who asks Ip to return. Ip collects Liu's bag of rice and gifts it to his surviving family.
Jin Shanzhao, a highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master who once defeated most of the masters in Foshan but was in turn beaten by Ip, now leads a bandit gang and harasses the workers at a cotton mill run by Ip's friend Chow Ching-chuen. Ip agrees to train the workers in Wing Chun for self-defence. The workers are able to stall the gang when they return, as Ip arrives to defeat Jin and Yuan, now a part of the gang. After the fight, Ip confronts Yuan and gives him a small tin that belonged to Lin after informing him of his brother's death. Yuan opens the tin and finds his kite inside; this motivates Yuan to leave the gang.
When Ip does not return to the arena, Miura sends Sato, along with several soldiers, to track Ip down. After overpowering them at the apartment, Ip and his family flee and hide in Li's house. The Japanese track Ip to the cotton mill and take the workers hostage. Despite Li's warnings, Ip surrenders himself to the Japanese while arranging for his wife and son to be sent to Hong Kong for protection. Miura asks Ip to train the Japanese soldiers in Chinese martial arts, but Ip refuses and challenges Miura himself to a match. Though Sato requests permission to execute Ip, Miura accepts the challenge to defend the Japanese honour and crush the Chinese spirit; in secret, Sato issues death threats to Ip if he does not allow Miura to win.
At the city square, Ip defeats Miura after a long and hard fight. Looking over the cheering crowd, which includes his wife and son, Ip is shot in the shoulder by Sato. As the crowd overwhelms the Japanese soldiers, Li kills Sato with his own gun. Ip is then taken away by Chow amid the chaos and manages to escape with his family to Hong Kong. A closing montage and captions reveal that Ip spent the rest of his life working to spread the teachings of Wing Chun, establishing a school and training several students, including Bruce Lee.
Cast Donnie Yen as Ip Man, the son of a wealthy family and Foshan's only practitioner of the martial art form known as Wing Chun. Lynn Hung as Cheung Wing-sing, Ip Man's wife. Tenma Shibuya as Colonel Sato (Japanese: 陸軍大佐 佐藤, Rikugun-Taisa Satō/), a sadistic, cruel Japanese colonel and Miura's second in-command. Gordon Lam as Li Chiu (), a police officer and Ip Man's acquaintance. He becomes a translator for the Japanese officers when they occupy Foshan despite being labeled a traitor by his neighbors. Fan Siu-wong as Jin Shanzhao (), an aggressive northern martial artist who comes to Foshan to challenge other masters, hoping to set up a school and climb out of poverty. When the Japanese invade, he forms a gang of bandits and is eventually chased out of Foshan by Ip Man. Simon Yam as Chow Ching-chuen (), a businessman and Ip Man's acquaintance who borrows money from him to set up a cotton mill. Xing Yu as Lin (), the first son of a restaurant owner in Foshan, a gifted martial artist and Ip Man's closest friend. Wong You-nam as Yuan, the second son of a restaurant owner in Foshan who causes a lot of trouble and often fights with his brother. Calvin Cheng as Chow Kong-yiu, the son of the cotton mill owner, who is interested in learning kung fu from Ip Man. Chen Zhihui as Master Liu (), a martial arts master of Foshan who turns to prizefighting when the Japanese invade to support himself. Sato kills him when he tries to claim a reward despite forfeiting a match. Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as General Miura (Japanese: 陸軍大将 三浦, Rikugun-Taishō Miura/), an abusive Japanese general and Karate expert, who is eager to assert the dominance of his native traditions over those of the Chinese.
Production
The idea of an Ip Man biopic originated in 1998 when Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen discussed the idea of making a film based on Bruce Lee's martial arts master. However, Paragon Films Ltd, the studio producing the proposed film, closed and the project was abandoned. Producer Raymond Wong decided to develop his own Ip Man film with full consent from Ip's sons, and had filmmakers head to Foshan to research Ip's life. Ip Chun, Ip Man's eldest son, along with martial arts master Leo Au-yeung, Jun Gao, and several other Wing Chun practitioners served as technical consultants for the film. Principal photography for Ip Man began in March 2008 and ended in August; filming took place in Shanghai, which was used to architecturally recreate Foshan. During filming, conflicts arose between the producers of Ip Man and filmmaker Wong Kar-wai over the film's working title. Wong, who had been developing his own Ip Man biopic, clashed with the producers after learning that their film would be titled Grandmaster Ip Man (), which was too similar to the title of Wong's film, The Grandmaster.
Ip Man is the first film based on the life of Ip Man. It also marks the fourth film collaboration between director Wilson Yip and actor Donnie Yen. The two also reunite with co-star Simon Yam after 2005's SPL: Sha Po Lang. The screenplay for Ip Man was written by Edmond Wong, the son of film producer Raymond Wong. Wong was the screenwriter of Yip and Yen's second collaboration, 2006's Dragon Tiger Gate. Ip Man's eldest son, Ip Chun, his student Leo Au-yeung, and Changquan gold medalist To Yu-hang served as technical consultants for the film, providing advice on the film's story and martial arts choreography. The music for the film was provided by veteran Japanese composer Kenji Kawai, who also served as a composer on the 2006 film, Dragon Tiger Gate which featured Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen as director and actor respectively.
Pre-production The film was originally conceived in 1998 when Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen first thought of the idea of making a film based on Ip Man's life. Donnie Yen signed onto the project, hoping to star as Ip, with Stephen Chow co-starring as Bruce Lee. Yen had signed the contract and received part of the acting fee. However, the studio producing the film closed, and the project was abandoned.
In December 2007, plans to make a new Ip Man film were announced with the filmmakers researching Ip's life in Foshan. Producer Raymond Wong stated that the film would take on a similar look and feel to SPL: Sha Po Lang. On 26 February 2008, a press conference for the film was held in Foshan, where it was announced that Wilson Yip would be directing the film, while Yen would appear in the leading role as Ip. Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Simon Yam were announced to be appearing in supporting roles, while Sammo Hung would serve as the film's martial arts choreographer. Casting director Zhang Yan Bin spent three months casting actors in various roles for the film. He had completed casting during principal photography in March 2008.
Filming Principal photography for Ip Man began in March 2008, and was completed by the end of August. A majority of the film focuses on events surrounding Ip Man that took place in Foshan in the 1930s and 1940s during the Sino-Japanese War. Since the buildings in modern-day Foshan are architecturally different from the ones of the film's period, the filmmakers decided to shoot the film in Shanghai.
Filming first took place in a storeroom in the industrial district of Shanghai. Having difficulties scouting a cotton factory suitable for shooting, set designers decided to recreate one in the style of the 1930s. They spent weeks transforming an abandoned storeroom into the Zhen Hua Cotton Mill Factory, a 1930s cotton mill factory founded by Ip's friend Chow Ching-chuen (played in the film by Simon Yam) during the Sino-Japanese War. It was where Ip Man first taught Wing Chun openly to the public.
Production designer Kenneth Mak included Western elements in his design, since Foshan, in earlier years, was a unique place where Chinese and Western cultures converged. Pillars were made to resemble English lampposts, and Western lighting, chairs, and tableware were also used. To convey the culture and feel of the time, the buildings were made to look obsolete and worn out. Apart from historical references, Mak also created a glass house which was used in a scene in the film.
Stunts and choreography
The martial arts choreography was designed by Sammo Hung and veteran fight and stunt coordinator Tony Leung Siu-hung. Hung had previously collaborated with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen as an actor in the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang. He was hired as the choreographer mainly because of his experience on the 1978 film Warriors Two and 1982's The Prodigal Son, both of which involved Wing Chun. When asked how he would work with Yen to direct the action scenes, Hung replied matter-of-factly, "With my mouth."