PING PONG

Hero Kenzan!

First off, no, I, in fact, have not even bothered to ask anyone if they actually like sports movies. Even so, I'm fairly comfortable in saying that, in general, people don't particularly like 'em. It probably isn't the sport itself, but rather the drama that goes on behind the scenes of the sport. A story starts with a baseball game, but then veers off into some drama about a batter's drinking problem. Another starts with an up-and-coming golf player, who later gets knocked out by Bob Barker. Well, okay, maybe that one's an exception. Maybe.

So rather than having a sappy drama become the means for showing all the sporty stuff, movies usually have the sporty stuff become the means for showing a sappy drama. Either way, too bad, you lose. Simply put, it's boring. It's predictable. It's taxing on the attention span of today's movie-watching crowd. It's grounded too much into reality, which not too many people care about anymore. Hence we blast our minds into sweet sweet oblivion with movies such as these.

So what makes Ping Pong different from all that? I think it's mostly because it was created right out of a comic book (which, I'm afriad to say, I've never read or even heard about before watching the movie). Comics are pretty much free to break away from such things as reality, common sense, sensibility, courtesy, or anything else that prevents me from kicking my neighbor's door down for tampering with my bike lock again.

With such barriers taken down, all the good stuff can come pouring in. Over-the-top characters. Imaginary representations of each character's attitude. Surreal imagery that describes the subtleties of the sport, everything from hits to spins to the euphoria of playing against a real challenger.

And the sappy drama bits? Turns out, it wasn't all too sappy. Issues like wishing for help in a time of trouble or tempering one's skill to allow a friend to win a competition are things that a good chunk of people can actually relate to. Even if you don't relate to them, these issues add to the movie rather than detract from it. That, I think, is the best part about the drama aspect: it actually relates to the sport of ping pong rather than make a whole other sidestory to the movie.

And the characters.....what's there to say about characters who have names like Peco, Smile, China, Demon, Dragon, or even Butterfly Joe? Peco, whose personality is as random and nonsensical as his nickname. Smile, who, simply put, never does. China, aka Panda Bear, who is practically godlike in the sport of ping pong and yet apparently fell flat on his face when he faced his fellow countrymen (ooh, look kids, an alliteration). Demon, who lived, ate, drank, and breathed ping pong, and nearly caused Peco's downfall. Dragon, who is Peco and Smile's most skilled, most dedicated, most fierce opponent. Butterfly Joe, Smile's coach, whose form and technique was once beautiful, but was too mild-hearted to win right down to the end. The great thing, I think, about the characters is that each one, to some extent, are round characters. That is to say, you at least get the feeling that they have some sort of depth to their personality.

So there you go. You know you've picked up a pretty good VCD movie if you find yourself rather upset that you have to spend 10 whole seconds swapping discs.

Director: Fumihiko Sori
Genre: Sports Drama
Year: 2002
Rating: 6.5/8
On DVD at HKFlix