flawless, but not perfect

July 27, 2019 8:01 AM

Ip Man: How to Write Superman A video essay by Accented Cinema, a channel by Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, Yang Zhang, that 'spotlights films outside Hollywood".

If you'd like to support him, here's his Patreon.

posted by cendawanita (13 comments total)

I've seen and enjoyed a couple of Ip Man movies, and still every time I see the title written out I process it as Intellectual Property Man and visualize a series of martial arts films featuring a lone hero who vanquishes copyright violators.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:11 AM on July 27, 2019 [13 favorites]

Now I want to see an Ip Man movie that works the same arc as the recent Action Comics run from the DC Rebirth semi-reboot: Superman, now middle-aged, has become a family man and finds that there are aspects to being a father that his powers can't help him with.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:18 AM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

as for me, now i really want to see a Superman movie moment when he dances like a dork like Ip Man did with his wife.

I think he hit on something that also explains why Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the best MCU Captain America movie thus far.
posted by cendawanita at 8:33 AM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is great, thank you for posting it. I've put off starting the Ip Man series but this is a great incentive to get started, too.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:54 AM on July 27, 2019

Ip Man is so good. It didn’t occur to me that he’s Superman, but he totally is. I’ve always had trouble finding Superman stories interesting. This honestly helps.
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:02 AM on July 27, 2019

I love that All-Star Superman is gaining cultural traction. It blew me away the first time I read it, as it was the first time I understood the appeal of Superman as something other than a one note power fantasy. Hopefully someone in Hollywood will notice and realize that it's possible to make him compelling without boring dusty super brawls.
posted by Reyturner at 9:12 AM on July 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

I understood the appeal of Superman as something other than a one note power fantasy.

The fantasy of Superman isn’t about having immense power. It’s a fantasy of someone with immense power actually being a good person. All the best Superman stories are about this.
posted by Sangermaine at 9:29 AM on July 27, 2019 [23 favorites]

Ip Man is so good. It didn’t occur to me that he’s Superman, but he totally is.

And this was why many in the industry and film geeks didn't rate Donnie Yen as being able to do justice to this role back in the day, because his PR/brand was a more brash, egotistical person (iirc). Kinda like... Imagine if that Nicholas Cage-as-Superman movie actually happened. Honestly, I think the fact that he pulled it off was even the reason he got that Rogue One role (which I think was originally slated for Jet Li, which makes more sense).
posted by cendawanita at 9:38 AM on July 27, 2019

I've never watched the Ip Man movies, but this analysis makes me want to. It also makes me want to go read All Star Superman, even though I'm not really a comics fan and especially not a DC fan (with the exception of 90s Batman: the Animated Series). I think I'm also going to queue up the other 17 videos by this guy -- he finds some interesting parallels and works on them in interesting ways. Reminds me a bit of "Every Frame a Painting" but more focused on storytelling than cinematography. Thank you for posting!
posted by Alterscape at 11:01 AM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is very neat. It also gave me further insight into Corey Doctorow’s novela “Model Minority.” Thanks!
posted by CMcG at 11:34 AM on July 27, 2019

There's more than one Ip Man movie? I did not know! Hooray!

I saw the first one on a plane. I didn't know anything about it and assumed it was going to be a lightweight martial arts movie; was anticipating good fight scene choreography and a fun romp overall.

THEN SUDDENLY IT'S WARTIME. WTF.

Would see (and have seen) again.
posted by inexorably_forward at 7:35 PM on July 27, 2019

inexorably_forward, since Ip Man was credited as a Bruce Lee's teacher, if you stay on till #3, Lee shows up. And in fact, other than the upcoming Ip Man 4, one of the antagonist in #3 got his own spinoff, Master Z (kinda like how Scott Adkins got his own Boyka spinoff) which I'm going to go watch right now in fact. That one I think is going to be more of the genre since it's not beholden to a rl person.
posted by cendawanita at 11:06 PM on July 27, 2019

What if Mr. Rogers was bulletproof, and everywhere was his neighborhood? That's Superman. Quiet, gentle, kind, appallingly good, and somehow never boring.

For all I know Mr. Rogers might actually have been Superman. He might have been bulletproof. It's an untested theory. Who would shoot at him?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:54 AM on July 28, 2019 [3 favorites]