Wong Kar-Wai‘s arthouse martial arts biopic (new genre?) arrives in American theatres next month but it would seem that The Weinstein Company would prefer if you didn’t remember that this one is in a foreign language (gasp!). A brand new trailer features the most voiceover we’ve heard in ages, cuts together a lot of footage — a lot of it new — and highlights the kicks and punches. But as for that stuff like acting and plot? Nah, that’s for the birds….
As you know, Wong Kar-Wai’s frequently collaborator Tony Leung takes the lead here, playing Ip Man, the master who trained some guy you might have heard of called Bruce Lee and basically was a major force in the martial arts sphere. The film also tracks the stories of Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) and The Razor (Chang Chen), the latter a spy-turned-kung-fu master. The results? Well, we weren’t so hot on it out of Berlin, with our review noting the “lack of emotional investment in Ip Man himself” and that despite how beautiful it all looks, the “visual flair can’t conceal the haphazard nature of the story.” Bummer.
But as always, you can make your opinion when it arrives in limited release on August 23rd. Watch below.