Film Name: 夺冠 / Leap
For the title of this post, I’ve been debating between “Regrettable Failure” and “Regrettable Victory” for a while now, considering that the first word sets the tone of the film and the second characterizes it.
Leap (for whatever reason) has obvious flaws that cannot be ignored, such as the lack of names of many important characters and the imbalance in pacing, but in terms of key emotions and intentions, the movie stands up: the “women’s volleyball spirit” is not only a legacy, but also a renewal.
Where should the “future” go from here? Leap may not have a clear answer for the Chinese women’s volleyball team, but I’m sure you and I won’t be at a loss after watching the movie.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
The biggest regret of the movie is that it fails to put a comprehensive “official stamp” on the Chinese women’s volleyball team: from the original “Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team” to “Leap”, the history-making members of the first generation of the women’s volleyball team as well as the second generation of the women’s volleyball team that created the Zhongxing team are all “lost”, with the exception of the main character, Mr. Lang Ping. “lost” their names.
I believe that things did not start out this way, not only the new generation of women’s volleyball girls in a complete posture in the movie, in the “presentation of the old generation of women’s volleyball seniors style” is a great effort.
Chen Kexin gave up choosing actors and actresses to practice volleyball, but directly in the nation’s tens of thousands of volleyball players in the election, set 12 people to play the old women’s volleyball players, Cao Huiying, Zhang Rongfang, Sun Jinfang, Zhou Xiaolan, Chen Yaqiong, Chen Zhaodi and other roles not only to achieve both God and form, but also in the looks of temperament at the same time to take care of the aesthetics of the two generations – casting is just a microcosm. The casting is just a microcosm, the film has many other commendable details to restore, if not the General Administration and other aspects of the green light, “Leap” is very difficult to achieve this level.
However, things ended up like this, there are many traces of line changes and dubbing in the movie, just to erase these names, apparently the contradiction to the point of irreconcilable compromise.
Inside the right and wrong we can not assert, but only from the quality of the film, this change is undoubtedly a fatal injury, not only the women’s volleyball girls became a number / code name, even Yuan Weimin and Chen Zhonghe two generations of the soul of the coach are only left a symbol symbol, especially Peng Yuchang and Huang Bo common interpretation of Chen Zhonghe, in the Leap in the status of no less than Lang Ping, but always “can’t be named”, which is an irreversible damage to the movie that destroys its roots.
Lang Ping is indeed the most shining name in the history of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, but the meaning of “Chinese women’s volleyball team” is written by many names together.
In addition to this “uncontrollable” flaw, there are also problems with the pacing of Leap.
In terms of plot setting, the movie is a very common “rise-fall-rise” structure (but not the typical three-part structure), the first generation of the women’s volleyball team to win the first championship of the chapter is nearly an hour long, no doubt is no less than the end of the new women’s volleyball team chapter of the main event, but this part of the content is a little bit dragging, not enough to grab people.
In fact, Chen Kexin is very good at catching the joints that touch people’s hearts, such as the women’s volleyball girls can work hard, the training and competition environment is not easy, the women’s volleyball matches affect countless Chinese people, etc., but outside of these basic scoring points, the movie does not show too much ambition to continue to go deeper, so that the section stays in the level of the “Golden Years Memory”. The movie doesn’t show much ambition to continue beyond these basic points, leaving the segment at the level of “memories of the golden years” – perhaps the director wanted to emphasize the second half of the movie, but it doesn’t feel as consistent as “American Dreams in China”.
The other major regret of Leap is the absence of the story of Chen Zhonghe and his generation of women’s volleyball players.
Whether it is reality or film, Chen Zhonghe’s experience is enough to leave a colorful mark in the history of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, he led Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong, Yang Hao, Wang Lina, Liu Yanan, Zhang Ping and other members of that batch of women’s volleyball team won the 2003 World Cup and the 2004 Olympic Games gold medals in a row, especially in 04 years toppled the final of the Russians, on the drama of the drama is not in the slightest worse than any other game, but in the film but by the Leap ……
I don’t know if it’s because “Leap” can’t make any effort in this role, obviously it’s a double main character configuration, but it keeps subtracting the “Confucian General” Chen Zhonghe, resulting in the big man who should have lifted the weight as if it were light, leaving more of a light and fluffy impression.
Therefore, this movie is not called “Chinese women’s volleyball” is right, it is by no means a comprehensive documentary, but a targeted feature film.
Despite the movie’s many regrets, I still consider it a “triumph”: Leap does what it wants to do with its adaptation, capturing the core ideas and expressing the full range of emotions and iterative propositions of the times.
What helps Chen do all this is the soulful character Lang Ping, played by Gong Li, who is the only character in the movie who doesn’t look flat.
As an important spokesperson for the “Chinese women’s volleyball team”, Lang Ping has been involved in witnessing the rise and fall of the Chinese women’s volleyball team for more than 40 years; and as a sportsman who has been abroad for many years, Lang Ping has seen the world change and is able to keep up with the trend of the times. …… She is more experienced than young people and has a more comprehensive vision than her peers.
The real power point of “Leap” is not the “five consecutive championships” of the Chinese women’s volleyball team during the period of young Lang Ping, but the “reforms” of the Chinese women’s volleyball team after the middle-aged Lang Ping resumed the coaching of the Chinese women’s volleyball team.
Why did the former Chinese women’s volleyball team create glory? In the early 1980s, all Chinese people were holding their breath, and the barren material and spiritual soil needed to be nourished, so the women’s volleyball team became the idol of the whole nation and the symbol of the times by chance and necessity, just like what Coach Yuan Weimin said in the movie: “We have to prove to all of them that Chinese people can do it.”
The “Women’s Volleyball Team Spirit” born in such a special era is a valuable treasure, but no one would have thought that after more than 30 years, this treasure would turn into a sweet burden.
There are too many people who have the memory of that period who are fond of this sentiment, for example, during the meeting in the movie, a leader opens his mouth and thinks that the current women’s volleyball team is not working because the players are too egotistical and undisciplined, and that “they should confiscate the cell phones” – which is precisely the core of Lang Ping’s reform. This is exactly where the core of Lang Ping’s reform lies, i.e., to re-conceptualize the conflict and unity between the collective and the individual.
A few decades ago, out of social inertia and the lack of conditions in all aspects, the players are very difficult to talk about “self”, or that only the collective can represent the individual …… decades later, the past we do not have things are gradually there, a champion for the country to bring collective value is not so great, in the past, a champion for the national collective value is not so great. The value of a championship for the nation as a whole is not that great anymore, does that theory still work?
Lang Ping’s reform is not only the “big national team” mode of selection, internationalized training team and other hardware, but also lies in guiding and placing the new generation of players after 80 and 90 to have a stronger ego, instead of suppressing it.
Leap” in the new players training and bonding a section of the play is very representative of the Ding Xia ideas, too much self, Zhang Changning old habits hard to change, temper, etc., these are the past women’s volleyball players on the uncommon problems, Lang Ping have to go to one by one to overcome.
One of the most representative role, when it comes to the rural origin, confined to the family situation, the will is not strong Zhu Ting, she is facing another kind of young people’s common predicament, Lang Ping with “why play? Lang Ping used the question “Why do you play?” to untie her heart, “You don’t have to be me, you just have to be yourself.” (Today, Zhu Ting is the world’s top volleyball player, and Lang Ping has said that just by looking at the numbers, she has long surpassed her peak self).
Chen Kexin has a unique vision, in the 2016 Olympic Games Chinese women’s volleyball team all the way against the odds and eventually won the championship in the magical script, selected the first knockout round “China-Brazil battle” as the main event, not only because this game is the turning point in the entire schedule, but also because the game before and after the huge psychological changes most reflect the value of the film’s appeal.
Lang Ping’s new coaching policy has been controversial, even the players are self-doubt, barely out of the group stage, against the hosts of the world’s first ranking of the momentum of the hosts of Brazil, almost no one thinks the Chinese women’s volleyball team can win ……
In this atmosphere, Lang Ping used her own epiphany to tell the young players that the past approach is correct, and her current approach is equally correct: “Our generation is suffering over, you should play your own volleyball, let go and play, go out and play.”
In this firm confidence, the Chinese women’s volleyball team ultimately beat Brazil cold, as for the latter victory is just water to the channel just …… from the intention, for the “women’s volleyball team spirit” to give a new meaning is the core of this movie, “win” is only its result, not the purpose. “Winning the championship is only the result, not the goal.
The individuality of the new youth should never be in conflict with collectivism, and their expression and release will only bring fresher and more lasting vigor and power to the collective.
From the middle of the film, the film is carefully deconstructing the meaning of “champion” in everyone’s mind, until it finally takes shape – nowadays, the people of China have become more self-confident, and do not (at least not exclusively) judge their heroes purely on the basis of victory or defeat, but dare to fight and strive for excellence, Dare to fight, fight to the best of their ability to attitude is also a reflection of the spirit of the women’s volleyball team, this quality has never changed, but now there are newer and more knowledge and understanding, so in 16 years before the final of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, there is that “win together with the crazy Lost together to carry the” cheering slogan.
Times have changed, and we haven’t been left behind.
Leap” is not a good movie, but it did not let the audience disappointed, another thing that makes me happy is that Chen Kexin for the delicate emotional control is still not lost, the movie there are a lot of problems can not be blamed on his head, after all, ‘Chinese women’s volleyball’ this four aura is too heavy…. …Having said that, I’m looking forward to his next movie “Li Na”, which is about the same sport as tennis, a sport that advocates the personality of the players and is perhaps easier to let go of.
One final note: if you’re still on the fence about seeing Leap, go for it. Even without considering the pros and cons mentioned above, the movie itself is a blast to watch!
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