Shaolin Kickers

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Movie
German title Shaolin Kickers
Original title 少林 足球
Siu lam juk kau
Shaolin Soccer
Country of production Hong Kong
original language Cantonese
Publishing year 2001
length 88 (113) minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Stephen Chow
script Stephen Chow
Tsang Kan Cheung
production Kwok-fai Yeung
music Raymond Wong
Jackie Chan
Lowell Lo
camera Pak-huen Kwen
Ting Wo Kwong
cut Kit-Wai Kai
occupation

Shaolin Kickers ( Chinese  少林 足球 , Pinyin Shǎolín Zúqiú , Jyutping Siu 3 lam 4 Zuk 1 kau 4 , English Shaolin Soccer ) is an action comedy film from Hong Kong from 2001. Directed by Stephen Chow , who also plays the leading role. With this film he achieved his international breakthrough. In China, when the film was released, it became the most successful film of all time there. This success was only later surpassed by the follow-up film Kung Fu Hustle , in which Stephen Chow also directed and starred.

For the publication on the US market, Miramax created an international version for supposedly better international marketability, on which all other western versions are based. This version, which was shortened from 113 to 88 minutes, was given a different cut as well as partly different music. In addition, some storylines and scenes of violence have been removed or severely shortened. The uncut version was only released on DVD in Asia and also contains English subtitles.

action

The film tells the story of Sing, a former Shaolin and master of Kung Fu , who is now struggling through life. One day he met the aged Fung, who was once a great football star and who was known as the Golden Leg because of his success . At the time, however, after being arrogant and corrupt himself, he was betrayed by his then teammate Hung, who also hired his henchmen to break Fung's knees in order to bring his career to an abrupt end.

Today, Hung is the trainer of the successful but sinister Devil Dragons (in the Original Evil Team ), whereas Fung never really got back on his feet. After Fung Sing got to know Sing, he is very enthusiastic about Sing's skill, as he has an extremely firm kick (hence a leg made of steel ) and persuades him to use his Kung Fu to play football and wants to train him. Not only Sing, his five other brothers were with him as children in the Shaolin monastery and became Kung Fu masters. When Sing tries to persuade them to play football and start a team, they weigh it down.

Later, after everyone has gone back one more time, the team called Kung Footballer is founded and they start training. This shows, however, that the former Shaolin not only have little idea about football itself, but that, with the exception of Sing, they are very rusty in their Kung Fu. After a tough test game against some ruffians, however, their skills and their minds are activated again. From now on, the team is constantly improving and eventually even takes part in the national tournament.

After mostly effortless victories, the kung footballers face the devil dragons in the final . These were so doped by injections that they now even seem to be superior to the Shaolin in their abilities and actually demonstrate them and put them down with their hard way of playing. Now the game is also threatened with abandonment because the kung footballers are already rapidly outnumbered by the numerous failed players. Fung has a shortage of staff because there is no longer a substitute player who could meet the minimum number of players. At this moment, the baker Amui, with whom Sing had already befriended, appears and offers to replace the seriously injured goalkeeper. Amui, who also masters Shaolin Kung Fu , actually turns the table around and victory can be achieved. Ultimately, Hung was banned for life for doping, while the kung fu lovers Sing and Amui sparked a new enthusiasm for martial arts in the country.

Awards

The film won at the 21st  Hong Kong Film Awards in the categories of best film, best director, best actor (Stephen Chow), best supporting actor (Wong Yat-Fei) and best visual effects. He also won awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Stephen Chow), and Best Supporting Actor (Wong Yat-Fei) at the 7th Golden Bauhinia Awards.

Others

  • On the one hand, the film serves as an amusing parody of the well-known wuxia genre and, on the other hand, openly uses elements of Japanese football anime such as Captain Tsubasa and uses bullet time effects, rapid tracking shots and slow motion . In the comic-like film it is completely normal to jump meters high or meters wide or to shoot so hard that the ball pulls a trail of fire behind it.
  • Singing's fourth brother, the team's goalkeeper, looks like a tribute to Bruce Lee .
  • A few Asian and American comic adaptations were later made for the film.
  • The German theatrical release of the film was (with a few copies) on March 11, 2004. The German free TV first ran the film on May 28, 2006 on arte .

Reviews

  • According to Jürgen Armbruster from filmstarts.de , the film is a fast-paced genre mix that straddles the border between genius and madness, but still knows how to provide entertaining entertainment. In addition, the film would be a classic sportsman film in which a handful of outsiders team up to get to the top. The film is kitschy and unrealistic, but also amusing and technically almost perfectly implemented.

The lexicon of international film : “A mix of martial arts, football films and sentimental Hong Kong drama staged with a lot of sense of slapstick, an artistically and camera-technically furious mix. The international version, which has been shortened by a good 20 minutes compared to the original, loses a lot of its charm and logic. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Critique by Jürgen Armbruster on filmstarts.de
  2. ↑ Shaolin Kickers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used