7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Christopher "C-dub" Wang is a Chinese-American gangsta-rapper wannabe with outrageous, and unlikely, dreams of becoming a pro basketball star. When his ping pong champion brother gets hurt, it's up to C-dub to pick up the paddle and save the family business. But when he's facing off against a devious rival player in the ping pong tournament of the year, will C-dub be up to the challenge? With some surprising help from an unusual group of kids, anything could happen!
Starring: Jimmy Tsai, Smith Cho, Khary Payton, Roger Fan, Peter PaigeSport | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Ping Pong Playa may appear to be about a particular sport, but it's really about the comedy that results when cultures clash. One is traditional and rooted in family; the other is newfangled and doesn't want to be weighed down with antique baggage. In other words, the film is an updated "spin" (sorry!) on the classic immigrant's tale, and the tension is right there in the title's juxtaposition of a big-time "playa" with a recreational pastime conducted with miniature paddles. Still, as the Chinese-American hero's father insists, the Chinese invented the game. Perfecting one's expertise is a matter of ethnic pride. Director Jessica Yu, who'd achieved critical success with the documentary In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), wanted to make a light comedy, and she was intrigued by the character of a trash-talking athlete that co-producer Jimmy Tsai created for a series of mock web ads touting Venom Sportswear, his own fledgling line. It was Joan Huang of Cherry Sky Films, the production company for In the Realms of the Unreal, who suggested ping pong as a unifying element, because so many households have a table, even if it isn't often used. Yu and Tsai co-wrote the script, utilizing every cliche of the immigrant assimilation genre they could fit in and poking fun at stereotypes on all sides, but Tsai had to be persuaded to play the lead. He was a production accountant for Cherry Sky, and he'd made the Venom ads solely as a means to publicize the company. Yu, however, saw a natural-born actor. The result of this group collaboration was released to theaters independently, which means it didn't receive wide distribution, but the Blu-ray from Image Entertainment provides as good an experience as any theater.
The cinematographer for Ping Pong Playa was Frank DeMarco, a staple of independent cinema whose credits include Margin Call, Rabbit Hole and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. DeMarco is known for his work with 16mm photography, and even before I saw the IMDb technical listing for Ping Pong Playa as Super16 (which I haven't been able to confirm), I suspected origination on 16mm film, due to the slightly coarser grain structure. Of course, the good news is that the grain is intact and natural-looking on Image Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. With contemporary film stocks and a skilled cameraman, 16mm photography can yield a detailed and colorful image, which is what we have here. C-Dub's world is visible in all its messy glory, even in darker scenes (check out the detail in his disaster of a room, when Mr. Wang goes to wake him up), and the scenes in large groups like the class, the tournament and a bowling alley reveal individual faces and features even in long shots. Colors tend toward the bright and saturated, which is perhaps an expression of how C-Dub sees the world (or would like to). While there aren't many opportunities for the display of true black, the amount of detail indicates that black levels have been properly set. With the extras all in standard definition, the 96-minute program fits on a BD-25 without artifacts.
Resisting the temptation to have ping pong balls whizzing around the room, the sound designers have kept the comedic action in the front of the soundstage. What the Blu-ray's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track delivers with genuine authority is the pulsing hip hop soundtrack with distinctive selections (some written expressly for the film) by Chops, Far East Movement, Against the Grain and others. A good subwoofer is not essential, but it will add immensely to one's experience of the film. The underscoring was provided by Jeff Beal, whose diverse credits include Ugly Betty and Monk, both of which seem perfectly apropos. The dialogue is very clearly rendered, which is not to say that it's always intelligible. I'm convinced that some of the exchanges between C-Dub and JP Money aren't meant to be understood by anyone but them.
Everything about Ping Pong Playa feels affectionate and authentic, but I suspect the filmmakers would be the first ones to laugh at anyone who takes the film too seriously. Yu had no higher aspiration than to make a silly comedy that just happened to be set in a Chinese-American community, because, as far as she knew, no such thing had ever been made. Now it has, and I wouldn't mind a sequel. Recommended.
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