Martin Scorsese supports The Grandmaster

Director Wong Kar Wai on Scorsese: 'Marty has always been a great inspiration.' Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

On Monday, August 12, Wong Kar Wai's latest film starring Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang was promoted in the US as The Grandmaster. The Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein announced the following day that Martin Scorsese will lend his name in support of the film's release, deeming it Martin Scorsese Presents: The Grandmaster.

Original US poster for The Grandmaster Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Scorsese, director of the upcoming The Wolf Of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, said: "Wong Kar Wai has turned martial arts into a modern dance. Every movement hit with precision, every emotion drenched with underlying honor. The Grandmaster, arranged with both elegance and fury, left me mesmerised."

Weinstein added: "Marty Scorsese's reaction to The Grandmaster couldn’t have been more enthusiastic. When Marty champions a film, nothing is better; it is the ultimate seal of approval. I look forward to audiences seeing this wildly entertaining and artistic film."

"Marty has always been a great inspiration," said Wong Kar Wai. "We are so thankful for his support of the film."

The sense of choice in Wong Kar Wai's hypnotic The Grandmaster is touch, as he has the earth moving with powdery and glamorous colours decaying at the edges in unremitting longing. Gong Er, in a stupefying performance by Ziyi Zhang, is a martial arts Anna Karenina with fur cuffs as she battles for the family honour in front of a train that, like a never-ending strip of film, flickers in dangerous momentum. Ip Man, the hero of this tale, is played with gravity and remarkable poise by the wonderful Tony Leung, whose tenderness matches his physical art.

Revamped poster launches film as Martin Scorsese Presents: The Grandmaster

The Weinstein Company is releasing the film theatrically in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto on August 23 and nationwide in the US on August 30. As yet, no UK release date for the film has been set.