re:mote voices

Title: Shaolin Soccer [Siu Lam Juk Kau]
Cast: Stephen Chow, Vicki Zhao, Man Tat Ng, Yut Fei Wong, Yin Tse
Director: Stephen Chow

Shaolin Soccer is one of those films which has been gaining quite a reputation from word of mouth, which has created a certain anticipation around it’s eventual release. Having done the festival circuit, and being promised by periodic trailers Shaolin Soccer at last has a limited general release in the UK. Although it comes as a surprise and a disappointment that the version of Shaolin Soccer that is in the cinema here is a dubbed version. Although, at least dubbing these days has come on some way from the 70-80’s where some excruciating work was done – nowadays dubbing is something that can be borne, even if we would prefer that it was not true. I wonder whether dubbing will actually get more people through the door to see the film – to a degree I do see people walking out of subtitled films regularly, and have been warned at the ticket desk, but then you have films like Crouching Tiger, Hero, or even Amelie which have gained a certain success regardless of subtitles.

Anyway. Shaolin Soccer is an over the top comedy from Hong Kong, which has taken 4 years to make it’s way here, minus (apparently) half an hour of material. The film combines martial arts in a football setting, with a sense of the absurd. A footballer who once had great potential was betrayed by a team mate – resulting in his grovelling damnation and his friends rise to fame and fortune. Golden Leg Fung has worked over the years beneath his treacherous friend, but at last decides it is his time to coach a team. This leads to a meeting with Sing, an ex-Shaolin monk, who accosts Golden Leg in the hope that he can interest him in Kung Fu lessons. From there the idea is struck to apply the martial arts discipline and skills to football. Sing rounds up his fellows monks, all of whom have fallen on hard times, and with their awkward little team they enter a major tournament – which puts them on a crash course against Golden Leg’s former friend and the super team he has assembled.

Filled with visual jokes, excessive effects and a definite sense of madness, Shaolin Soccer uses exaggeration with striking results. In some ways parodying the success of films like Crouching Tiger or Hero, which depict martial artists as some kind of super humans. Although with that, writer, director and star Stephen Chow apparently learnt kung fu so that he could play the part in his film.

There are some faces that may be familiar, Vicki Zhao who plays a potential love interest to Chow, was in the film So Close, which although it didn’t get a cinema release over here has been readily available on DVD for some time. Also there is a cameo by Karen Mok, who played super-cop to Zhao’s super-crook in So Close, as well as being someone who has released a couple of CDs in Hong Kong.

Shaolin Soccer is a lot of fun and is worth seeing on the big screen, even if I am looking forward to adding it to my DVD collection for repeated viewing.