...Ping Pong was FLCL.
I try to compare this to my all time favorite anime. It was the story of growing up to me, becoming one’s self. This movie was more than that, and it did it without guitars, space, and robots. It used real people playing a real game of table tennis. I want to try it sometime.
I began the movie watching for anything to analyze. I started seeing what I thought were horrendous shots and bad cuts, cheesy lines, and outrageous characters. What I felt was one of the most amazing rides a movie has ever taken me on.
When Peco says he can fly the thoughts running through my head were, “Why am I watching a movie about doped up athletes?” He sure did fly though and so did I. When it began to tell the story of Peco and Smile (Hoshino and Tsukimoto) I started to chuckle at the funny little kid things each of them did. When I saw the ‘hero’ I couldn’t help but to laugh.
Peco was the star and Smile was the moon, these symbols become another part of the character. A star is considered usually dimmer than the moon, but the moon only reflects the light of a star. Our sun is just a star. Peco changes over the film to become varying stars while Smile is just the friendly moon in its schedule of waxing and waning.
The hero image that is used adds even more when you realize that all along you have been following the journey of Peco, as he becomes the Hero—It’s tenth grade English, I remember Gilgamesh, but I loved this ever so much more—When Peco finally becomes the hero I almost jumped for joy because I could feel the energy. When he and Dragon (Kazama) are in the white I felt the pinnacle of the movie, like a climber just reaching the summit. Dragon exclaims that he likes it there; I feel exactly the same way. I don’t want to leave.
If only it would have included the pillows as their soundtrack I could have been perfectly happy. The movie is absolutely wonderful with its cuts back in time, its wacky camera shots, its cheesy lines, and deep characters. I walked away enthralled.
In short, Ping Pong was Ping Pong.
Great analysis. Maybe some sort of direction in the beginning would help and some easier transitions between thoughts. But I totally agree with you on the cheesy lines. It somehow made it good!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I know, I enjoyed this film so much that I had a hard time really writing about it and getting all my thoughts down; they became rather broken. Yeah I think all the elements that I could consider bad movie making actually made this film so great.
ReplyDeleteI think... no, I'm positive that the makers of this movie could have made sure that they did extra takes until the cheesy lines were smoother and the camera angles were more aesthetically pleasing, and the characters were more real, and that they refrained for a reason. They knew that they would need to leave those rough spots in to draw our attention to them, as if they were signaling to us that something important was going on during those parts. At the beginning all I was thinking was, "This is soooo Japanese." but it became more apparent as the movie went on that it was usually that way for the reason. I totally agree with you Brian. Thanks.
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