Shaolin Soccer
Can you imagine a film that does for kung-fu and football what Airplane did for the aviation disaster? Nor could we, until he saw this.
"My films have evolved over time but one thing remains constant: people will never tire of good comedy", says Stephen Chow. Shaolin Soccer's director and co-star should know more than most. he invented his own style – 'mo le tau' or 'nonsense comedy' – with All for the Winner, a parody of Chow Yun Fat's God of the Gamblers in 1990. Nonsense comedy is a pretty good description: this is no arthouse offering, and right from the start goes for the mainstream jugular, with spectacular results.
Twenty years ago: young football star, Fung, takes a bribe from wicked team-mate, Hung, and throws a match. In the ensuing mêlée his leg is broken, ensuring he never plays again, while Hung walks away laughing. Cut to the present day and Hung is manager of 'team evil', unbeaten in the league; Fung, meanwhile, is a bum living on the streets. As he watches an ex-Shaolin monk ward off a mob using spectacular kicks, he dreams of taking a maverick team to the final, and beating his old enemy... Thus the scene is set, and as Fung gathers up a motley selection of future footballing heroes, the story follows the classic kung-fu trajectory of physical training and revenge (as seen in Kill Bill Vol.2), yet surreally transplanted into a cartoony football world in which player can perform Matrix-esque jumps and moves. The dubbed dialogue, too, is of the traditional kung-fu variety, with lines like, "you were a great player, but now you're just a clown", liberally littering the script. Luckily, this does not become tedious, thanks to the knowing play with conventions and the constant invention on all levels of the film. Special effects give a comic book exuberance, all the performances are suitably caricatured, and there's some amazing martial arts thrown in to boot.
This is a hugely enjoyable example of a populist comedy in the MTV mode. It's a sign of the times that American studios are now looking to the rest of the world for inspiration in so many genres they used to dominate (think horror, thriller, action adventure...), and this is a lesson in how to do Farrelly Brothers-style comedy. But better, and with less toilet jokes. Shaolin Soccer doesn't owe anything to films like Dumb and Dumber or (infinitely better) Happy Gilmore, but it still takes Hollywood on at its own game – and wins (after extra time and penalties). True, its dayglo preposterousness might be a little too self-reflexive and intense for some (reportedly, the longer Cantonese version is less incoherent, and more sensible), but actually, I think, Shaolin Soccer is so ironically over the top it's actually deadly serious, and great fun at the same time. Nonsense comedy indeed; ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the age of postirony.
Twenty years ago: young football star, Fung, takes a bribe from wicked team-mate, Hung, and throws a match. In the ensuing mêlée his leg is broken, ensuring he never plays again, while Hung walks away laughing. Cut to the present day and Hung is manager of 'team evil', unbeaten in the league; Fung, meanwhile, is a bum living on the streets. As he watches an ex-Shaolin monk ward off a mob using spectacular kicks, he dreams of taking a maverick team to the final, and beating his old enemy... Thus the scene is set, and as Fung gathers up a motley selection of future footballing heroes, the story follows the classic kung-fu trajectory of physical training and revenge (as seen in Kill Bill Vol.2), yet surreally transplanted into a cartoony football world in which player can perform Matrix-esque jumps and moves. The dubbed dialogue, too, is of the traditional kung-fu variety, with lines like, "you were a great player, but now you're just a clown", liberally littering the script. Luckily, this does not become tedious, thanks to the knowing play with conventions and the constant invention on all levels of the film. Special effects give a comic book exuberance, all the performances are suitably caricatured, and there's some amazing martial arts thrown in to boot.
This is a hugely enjoyable example of a populist comedy in the MTV mode. It's a sign of the times that American studios are now looking to the rest of the world for inspiration in so many genres they used to dominate (think horror, thriller, action adventure...), and this is a lesson in how to do Farrelly Brothers-style comedy. But better, and with less toilet jokes. Shaolin Soccer doesn't owe anything to films like Dumb and Dumber or (infinitely better) Happy Gilmore, but it still takes Hollywood on at its own game – and wins (after extra time and penalties). True, its dayglo preposterousness might be a little too self-reflexive and intense for some (reportedly, the longer Cantonese version is less incoherent, and more sensible), but actually, I think, Shaolin Soccer is so ironically over the top it's actually deadly serious, and great fun at the same time. Nonsense comedy indeed; ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the age of postirony.
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