SHAOLIN SOCCER / 少林足球 (2001)
Directed by Stephen Chow
127 minutes
Almost never screened in North America in this form, Stephen Chow's original Cantonese theatrical version of SHAOLIN SOCCER arrives at the festival from Universe's recent 2K digital remaster DCP. For years, the film has too often circulated here in compromised form: old Blu-rays, soft home-video masters, or the notorious English-dubbed Miramax version that cut the film down and sanded away part of its Hong Kong lunacy. Chow plays Sing, a broke Shaolin disciple trying to bring kung fu back to the people before poverty finishes him first. His plan: reunite his washed-up martial-arts brothers, build a soccer team, and enter a tournament where physics, dignity, and basic sportsmanship all get kicked into the upper deck. This was the film that turned Chow into a global cult hero: wire-fu, underdog sports-movie delirium, Bruce Lee worship, Zhao Wei's tai chi baker, and transcendent lowbrow genius.