Iron grip
Shaolin Soccer
dir. Stephen Chow
Originally released as Siu lam juk kau in 2001 in Hong Kong to much acclaim and record-breaking box office bucks, Shaolin Soccer was one of the sell-out hits of last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival.
I hope you don’t like your genres sorted into neat, restrained categories, as Shaolin Soccer is what one might call a kung fu/soccer/comedy cross-over picture.
Pow! Ka-blammo! Or rather, Hee-ya!
Now that’s in the open, it’s time to put on the Cantonese cinema connoisseur cap. Warning: if your cheese-o-meter has low tolerance, you might baulk at this light, fun comedy.
Director Stephen Chow stars as Shaolin monk and aluminium-can-seller Sing (Shaolin name: Mighty Iron Leg) who dreams of Shaolin kung fu regaining prominence in modern-day China.
The opening scene introduces Golden Leg (Man Tat Ng), a former soccer champion who is down on his luck, alcoholic and physically disabled, thus fulfilling all the criteria for the archetypal role of the has-been whose dream is to coach a team of talented misfits, and transform them into superstars.
The misfits are six ‘brothers’ from the hallowed Shaolin Temple kung fu school, who are finding it hard to get by—there’s no call for Shaolin heroes these days. My favourites are Brother One (his Shaolin moniker is Iron Head), a chain-smoking, portly man who cleans toilets at a nightclub; and stockbroker Iron Shirt, who propels the ball forward with mighty kung fu chest muscles.
Hong Kong martial arts movie fans will appreciate Kwong Ting-Wo’s refreshing cinematography: the camera dances around the action, a great deal of which is tasty computer generated imaging from Centro Digital (Storm Riders). There’s artful spinning of dough into steamed buns a hundred feet into the air by love interest Mui (Vicki Zhao) and the close-up sequence of a computer-rendered soccer ball’s metamorphosis from a blazing flare to a flame-tiger that slams into the intravenously enhanced Team Evil defenders. Memorable.
Generally, the comedy in Shaolin Soccer is camp slapstick, but well executed. Chow’s delivery is self-deprecating and witty, but occasionally risks being too self-conscious. The cast includes many veterans of Hong Kong cinema, and aficionados might enjoy a Karen Mok cameo.
Writer/director/actor Stephen Chow made his name with All The Winners, a spoof of a Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) classic, God of Gamblers. He’s been compared with the Farrelly brothers, Jim Carrey, and Charlie Chaplin. I doff my cap to Chow—selling the idea of