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Pinpon

  • 2002
  • 1h 54m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
Pinpon (2002)
ComedyDramaSport

The film traces the growth and friendship of two very different high-school ping-pong players. "Peco" Hoshino is a brash, arrogant player, determined to turn pro. He taught his quiet, nerdy ... Read allThe film traces the growth and friendship of two very different high-school ping-pong players. "Peco" Hoshino is a brash, arrogant player, determined to turn pro. He taught his quiet, nerdy childhood friend "Smile" Tsukimoto. Smile frustrates his coach and rivals, who recognize h... Read allThe film traces the growth and friendship of two very different high-school ping-pong players. "Peco" Hoshino is a brash, arrogant player, determined to turn pro. He taught his quiet, nerdy childhood friend "Smile" Tsukimoto. Smile frustrates his coach and rivals, who recognize his talent for the game since it is just a game to him. To teach him, his high-school coach... Read all

  • Director
    • Fumihiko Sori
  • Writers
    • Taiyô Matsumoto
    • Kankurô Kudô
  • Stars
    • Yôsuke Kubozuka
    • Arata Iura
    • Sam Lee
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    3.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fumihiko Sori
    • Writers
      • Taiyô Matsumoto
      • Kankurô Kudô
    • Stars
      • Yôsuke Kubozuka
      • Arata Iura
      • Sam Lee
    • 31User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
    • 59Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 7 nominations

    Photos51

    Pinpon (2002)
    Pinpon (2002)
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    Pinpon (2002)
    Pinpon (2002)
    Shidô Nakamura in Pinpon (2002)
    Pinpon (2002)
    Pinpon (2002)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Yôsuke Kubozuka
    Yôsuke Kubozuka
    • Yutaka Hoshino…
    Arata Iura
    • Makoto Tsukimoto
    • (as Arata)
    • …
    Sam Lee
    Sam Lee
    • Kong Wenge…
    Shidô Nakamura
    Shidô Nakamura
    • Ryûichi Kazama…
    Kôji Ohkura
    • Manabu Sakuma…
    Naoto Takenaka
    Naoto Takenaka
    • Butterfly Joe
    Mari Natsuki
    • Obaba
    Yoshiyoshi Arakawa
    Takahiro Hirano
    Mako Ishino
    Kôen Kondô
    Kôen Kondô
    Erika Mabuchi
    Suzuki Matsuo
    • Policeman
    Asumi Miwa
    Ayumu Moriyama
    Akira Nishihara
    Kaei Okina
      Teppei Sasaki
      • Director
        • Fumihiko Sori
      • Writers
        • Taiyô Matsumoto(comic)
        • Kankurô Kudô(screenplay)
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Connections
        References Gigantor (1964)

      User reviews31

      Review
      Review
      Featured review
      9/10
      The "Breaking Away" of Ping Pong...
      There's a lot of great stuff coming from Japan these days and it's not on horror flicks about stylized spirits and discordant ghostly sounds. "Ping Pong" has something and it captures a feel that many people I know who have visited Japan felt on first viewing "Lost In Translation". It looks like Tokyo and it looks like hyper-real Tokyo at the same time.

      But this is a very, very different story from "Lost In Translation". Based on a manga, this is a surreal and existential and neo-Zen comedy about the competitive world of young ping pong players in modern Japan. Peco and Smile are two players who have been friends since their youth. Peco (Yosuke Kubozuka of "Go" and "Tomie: Replay") is the brash and outrageous champion who crushes all opponents while rubbing their face in it. Smile (Arata from "Afterlife") is the better player (he's called Smile because he never does - Excellent!) but isn't especially interested and often loses on purpose to Peco out of some sort of loyalty. Not only does this anger his coach (a former ping pong star) but it gives Peco a further inflated ego.

      During an inter-school competition, both are defeated. Peco loses to the champ of the disciplinarian, militaristic school of skinheads named Dragon (newcomer Shido Nakamura). Smile loses to China (Sam Lee of "Gen-X Cops" and "Public Toilet"), so named, as that's where he is a pro and he's just in Japan to kick start his career (sort of like when a ball player gets sent back down to the minors for a tune-up). Needless to say, the rest of the movie involves the two needing to pick themselves up off the floor solving the inequities of their friendship along the way. And of course, it all is heading back to a great rematch.

      This is a lot of fun as the competitions are startling in their originality and quite beautiful at times. There are some amazing epiphanies from one character re-christening himself in a river, one of the skinheads getting his due and when Dragon learns to play ping pong completely for pleasure.

      I'll also say this; the soundtrack is amazing. I don't know who any of these groups are. They're all Japanese. But we were all jumping up and down to the music the first time we saw it. If you have an all-region DVD player, I would suggest you get the Japanese disc as it comes with a feature where you can watch the whole movie with just the music soundtrack.
      helpful•4
      0
      • honeybearrecords
      • Mar 11, 2005

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • July 30, 2004 (United Kingdom)
      • Country of origin
        • Japan
      • Official site
        • Official Movie Website
      • Languages
        • Japanese
        • Cantonese
      • Also known as
        • Ping-Pong
      • Filming locations
        • Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
      • Production companies
        • Asmik Ace Entertainment
        • BS-i
        • Imagica Corp.
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Box office

      Edit
      • Gross worldwide
        • $1,483,384
      See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

      Technical specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 54 minutes
      • Color
        • Color
      • Sound mix
        • Dolby

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