Review | Leap movie review: legacy of Chinese women’s volleyball team chronicled, with Gong Li as coach Lang Ping in Peter Chan’s sports drama
- Leap is intended by its director, Hong Kong’s Peter Chan, as both a nationalistic blockbuster and a nuanced examination of Lang Ping’s complicated legacy
- What he delivers is a technically accomplished film Chinese volleyball fans will like, but which will disappoint those looking for a character study of Lang
3/5 stars
After earning critical acclaim for his past two Chinese productions, American Dreams in China (2013) and Dearest (2014), Hong Kong director Peter Chan Ho-sun dives into China’s lucrative game of patriotic filmmaking with his first feature in six years.
On closer examination, it’s clear Chan has found it difficult to reconcile delivering a nationalistic blockbuster with crafting a nuanced character portrait around Lang’s complicated legacy.
Alternately thrilling and wistful, Leap offers a precise re-enactment of the Chinese team’s exploits on the court, and an intimate portrait of Lang as she becomes a key player for the title-winning team in the 1980s, spends a decade coaching outside China in the 2000s, then returns to lead a subpar Chinese team to glory at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
What it lacks, understandably, is an element of surprise. A more ambitious film would surely have delved into the inner conflicts of Lang (played by Gong Li in later life), a certified national hero, as she coaches arch rival the United States to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; China, then coached by Chen (played as an older man by Huang Bo), come third.
Instead, Leap treats the episode as a mere hiccup before Lang and the Chinese team start working together from the mid-2010s onwards.
While Chan’s technical feat of recreating the 2016 Rio final with real team members, playing themselves, is admirable, his documentary-like treatment of extended segments of the film makes it a stop-start affair, and with a running time of 135 minutes, Leap is bloated.
A must-see for audiences who long to relive the success of the Chinese women’s volleyball team over the decades, Leap will feel like a missed opportunity to those looking for a portrait of Lang that has some intrigue.
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