Review of The Grandmaster (2013) by Jonathan B — 11 Mar 2014
The Grandmaster is lesson 101 for how to recut a film and ruin it for American audiences. I haven't seen the original cut yet, but everything I've heard about it confirms my suspicions. The cut we got in America, overseen by Harvey Weinstein, has very jarring jumps through time, unnecessary title cards, etc.
, and overall feels incredibly disjointed and exactly like a good 20+ minutes are missing. That said, it's amazing the Grandmaster still works at all. The fight scenes and cinematography are excellent, despite the annoying reliance on that one kind of cheap, staccato slowmo I hate, and the performances by Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang are solid.
I wouldn't say the Grandmaster has the makings of a masterpiece, different cut or not, but it would have been nice for everyone in the U.S. to at least get the opportunity to see Wong Kar-wai try.
This review of The Grandmaster (2013) was written by Jonathan B on 11 Mar 2014.
The Grandmaster has generally received positive reviews.
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