Title - Leap {Duo Guan}
Production - Alibaba Pictures Group, Beijing Jinyi Jiayi Film Distribution, China Film Group Corporation
Starring - Gong Li, Huang Bo, Lydia Bai Lang, Peng Yu Chang, Wu Gang
Writer - Zhang Ji
Director - Peter Chan
Release - 25 September 2020
The casting for this movie already seemed like an amazing feat. The actual Olympic team from 2016 stepped in to play themselves and were directed so well that I wasn't sure if they were really tall actresses who could actually play volleyball. Whereas the 1980's team in the story were also portrayed by some of the national women's volleyball team members.
No wonder this movie was so enjoyable to watch, because the action seemed so real. They actually were!
And Wu Gang played the 80's coach so well that when he scolded the team, I felt it. He made me want to be a better person.
This was no doubt a Gong Li led movie even though she only appeared in the second half. She gave the movie an emotional anchor. And the genius of the story was that it was split into the 80's team and the 2010's team, plus of course the amazing story of how the China women volleyball came back from the brink of death.
I wished there was more of an emotional impact in terms of Li's character in the second half when she coached, because of what she went through to be the champion back in the day. But that part actually was provided by Huang Bo's character, whose younger self was played so well by Peng Yu Chang.
I also wished that coffee moment between Li's and Huang's characters had more of an impact as well the second time round but it came up quite empty.
Still, the highlight of the movie was definitely the volleyball action. It was edited really well and better than some of the Hollywood basketball or football actioners.
Using real volleyball players meant you could really film some closeup shots with minimal CGI, making the viewing more viscerally pleasing.
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