You might not yet have got around to watching The Grandmaster, Wong Kar-Wai's biopic of China's most famous 20th century martial artist, the Ip Man - and though the film itself is wobbly in places, there's something to be said for what is undoubtably its best scene: the train yard fight. The Grandmaster itself is a stunningly beautiful movie, one that works on a visual level far better than it does on a narrative one, but this sequence exemplifies Kar-Wai's powers as a director in all the ways a proper martial arts sequence should - it's genuinely kind of breathtaking. What's interesting is that this scene doesn't even involve the Ip man - the duel takes place between his kindred spirit, Gong Er, and bad guy Ma San, on a snow-covered train platform. So, yes, it's very artsy, but it's also violent and brutal, too. For anybody who dislikes the "choreographness" that can plague martial arts fight sequences, you might not be convinced by the way that this one is almost parody-like in its execution: but there's no denying that it has a strange, beautiful power - one that only Wong Kar-Wai could have brought to the table.
