| The Legend is Born – Ip Man | |
|---|---|
Original Hong Kong film poster |
|
| Traditional | 葉問前傳 |
| Simplified | 叶问前传 |
| Directed by | Herman Yau |
| Produced by | Sin Kwok-lam |
| Written by | Erica Lee |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Chun Hung Mak |
| Cinematography | Kwong-Hung Chan |
| Studio | Mei Ah Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Cathay-Keris Films Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | 24 June 2010 |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language |
|
The Legend is Born – Ip Man is a 2010 Hong Kong semi-biographical martial arts film based on the events in the early life of Wing Chun master Yip Man (also spelled as Ip Man). The film's story is not related to Wilson Yip's Ip Man starring Donnie Yen; however both Sammo Hung and Fan Siu-wong are featured in the film, but introduced as alternate characters. The film was directed by Herman Yau and stars Dennis To in the title role as Yip Man. One of the highlights of the film is a special appearance by Ip Chun, son of Yip Man, who plays Leung Bik in the film. The film focuses on Yip Man's early life and the story of how he learned the martial arts style of Wing Chun. In contrast, Ip Man and Ip Man 2 focus on the events in his life that took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War and after he moved to Hong Kong.
Contents |
As a child, Ip Man learns Wing Chun from Chan Wah-shun together with Ip Tin-chi (Ip Man's adopted brother) and Lee Mei-wai. After Chan's death from an illness, Ip Man continues to learn Wing Chun from his senior, Ng Chung-sok, before eventually leaving Foshan to study in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, after a field hockey match, Ip Man and his schoolmates are racially insulted by a Westerner. Ip Man takes offense to the language. The Westerner then slurs them in Chinese. Ip Man challenges the Westerner to a fight and defeats him. Ip Man's notoriety and popularity soar after the incident. While getting medicine to treat the Westerner whom he now refers to as a friend, he meets master Leung Bik, who is actually the son of Leung Jan, Chan Wah-shun's teacher. Ip Man learns a different, improved style of Wing Chun from Leung and his prowess in martial arts improves tremendously. Meanwhile in Foshan, Ip Tin-chi rose to become a prominent businessman under another Wing Chun martial arts association.
Ip Man returns to Foshan years later and reunites with his peers. Ng Chung-sok sees that Ip Man has mastered a new style of Wing Chun from Leung Bik, which differs from Chan Wah-shun's orthodox style. Ip Man also later falls in love with Cheung Wing-shing, the daughter of the vice-mayor of Foshan. When Lee Mei-wai realises that Ip Man loves Cheung, she accepts Ip Tin-chi's love for her. On their wedding night, her godfather is murdered and Ip Man is arrested as a prime suspect after being witnessed struggling with him. Cheung later lied that Ip Man was with her the entire evening to have him released from jail. Lee discovers a letter to Ip Tin-chi, revealing his involvement in the murder of her godfather. She was saved by Ip Tin-chi when she attempted suicide and both of them leave for Foshan but are stopped by the Japanese. Lee is captured and Ip Tin-chi is forced to kill Ng Chung-sok because Lee showed the letter to him.
At the martial arts association, Ng Chung-sok was defeated by Ip Tin-chi and the Japanese. Ip Man arrives in time to save Ng Chung-sok from being killed and then subsequently defeats the Japanese and Ip Tin-chi. Ip Tin-chi then reveals that he is actually a Japanese and was sent to China to infiltrate and work as an undercover agent. He then performs seppuku to end his life. Ip Man rushes off to the pier to rescue Lee. He defeats the Japanese and rescues Lee. At the pier, they discover that the Japanese have been smuggling Japanese children to China, possibly as future undercover agents, similar to Ip Tin-chi.
Ng Chung-sok is seen narrating the story of the night to new apprentices at the martial arts association. Ip Man's son, Ip Chun, is seen among the new apprentices. Ip Man arrives back at the association and is shown married to Cheung.
The film was released in Hong Kong on 24 June 2010.[1]
| Release date |
Country |
Classifaction |
Publisher |
Format |
Language | Subtitles | Notes |
REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2010 | Hong Kong | N/A | Universal Studio | NTSC | Cantonese, Mandarin | English, Traditional Chinese | 2VCDs | [2] |
| Release date |
Country |
Classifaction |
Publisher |
Format |
Region |
Language |
Sound |
Subtitles |
Notes |
REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2010 | Hong Kong | N/A | Universal Studio | NTSC | ALL | Cantonese, Mandarin | 6.1, Dolby Digital EX(TM) / THX Surround EX(TM), DTS Extended Surround(TM) / DTS-ES(TM) | English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese | [3] | |
| 13 October 2010 | Taiwan | N/A | NTSC | ALL | Cantonese, Mandarin | Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX(TM) / THX Surround EX(TM) | English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese | [4] | ||
| 20 December 2010 | United Kingdom | N/A | Metrodome Group (UK) | PAL | 2 | Cantonese, Mandarin | English | [5] | ||
| 13 December 2011 | United States | N/A | FUNimation Entertainment | NTSC | 1 | Cantonese, Mandarin | English | [6] |
| Release date |
Country |
Classifaction |
Publisher |
Format |
Region |
Language |
Sound |
Subtitles |
Notes |
REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2010 | Hong Kong | N/A | Universal Studio | NTSC | All | Cantonese, Mandarin | DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1,Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, Dolby Digital 5.1 EX | Mandarin (Traditional), English | [7] | |
| 13 October 2010 | Taiwan | N/A | TBA | NTSC | All | Cantonese, Mandarin | 7.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX(TM) / THX Surround EX(TM) | English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese | [8] | |
| 28 January 2011 | Germany | N/A | Splendid Entertainment | NTSC | B | Cantonese, German (Dubbed) | DTS-HD HR 5.1 | German, Dutch | Released under the title "IP Man Zero" | [9] |
| 13 December 2011 | United States | N/A | FUNimation Entertainment | NTSC | A | Cantonese, English (Dubbed) | TBA | English | Blu-ray + DVD combo | [10] |
| 13 December 2011 | Canada | N/A | Vivendi Visual Entertainment | NTSC | A | Cantonese, English (Dubbed) | TBA | English | Blu-ray + DVD combo | [11] |
On May 27, 2011, FUNimation Entertainment filed a file sharing lawsuit against 1,427 John Doe defendants in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges the Doe defendants committed copyright infringement of the film using the Bittorrent file-sharing protocol. The law suit was filed by Texas Lawyer Evan Stone who famously had most of his other mass file-sharing cases dismissed at an early stage. FUNimation claims to own the exclusive U.S. Distribution rights to the film.[12]