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Meeting the Giant Movie Review 再见巨人 影评

Meeting the Giant Movie Review 再见巨人 影评| by tiffanyyong.com

Recommended Audience: Fans of Ian Fang, Tay Ping Hui, Singapore films and Basketball fans

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Meeting the Giant Movie Synopsis 再见巨人 剧情梗概

To boost the standard of Singapore basketball, Long, a magnate and known figure in the basketball scene decided to fund the import of young talents from China, hoping to reinvigorate the sport in Singapore and create the next Yao Ming.
Away from home the first time, the young squad of Chen Hang, Shaohua, Dadi, Xiaodi and Gao Ming have to overcome many challenges while integrating into Singapore, both on and off court. Junhui, born and bred in Singapore, does not see eye to eye with his foreign teammate Chen Hang. Apart from the vast difference in height and basketball skills, there is also a stark difference in their sense of identity and belonging.

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《再见巨人》讲述少年篮球好手碰上高他一个头的对手,一个是新加坡人,一个来自中国广州。两人初见面,八字不合,拼了命一较高低,除了比身高和球艺,他们还有身份认同及社会归属感的差异。少年人之间自然存在着竞争和排斥,但他们也从中培养了深厚友谊。而新加坡的一名篮球界大腕,重金引进中国高素质的少年球苗,安排所有球员进行为期两年的重点职业球员训练,立志要提高本地篮球水准,为篮球界注入新动力,希望栽培出“下一个姚明”。一支新苗篮球队,如何准备上场应战?适者生存的世界里,初生之犊怎么面对成年人的压力?不同背景、不同国籍的年轻人,经过三场激烈竞赛后,终于发现友情比赛情更为可贵。

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Meeting the Giant Viewer Rating 再见巨人电影评价: 4.5/5 ****

Meeting the Giant Movie Review:

I was VERY excited before watching this movie, simply because I’ve watched Director Tay’s short film “Brothers” 2 years ago and liked the way he brought out certain subtle messages through his cinematography. So when news was out that he was going to direct this film, I was looking forward to see what can he do to turn a sports-genre film into his own style.

Since the film is not officially out yet, I will try my best to give a proper review without spoiling too much, k? Those who have watched the movie, feel free to discuss about the movie below!
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“再见巨人” could mean “Meeting the Giant”, or “Goodbye, Giant” in Chinese. I never thought too much of this title till I watched this movie. At the start of the show, it was “Goodbye, Giant”, then it turned into “Meeting the Giant” later on. I love the way the director brought out the height of the players. Initially, I thought it was the usual method of building anticipation by showing only certain features of main lead without showing his face. The point of revelation (revealing of the face) made many people laugh, when they were once again “tricked”, but it was only then, it dawned upon me that “tall” message the director was trying to deliver.

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It is easy to bring out the height of the basketball players if there were comparison, (like having me standing by them :P) but when all of them are 1.8m and above, all of them didn’t look as tall on screen without any comparison. So rather than using height contrast, the director used many other ways to bring out the players’ height difference from the normal people (If you haven’t caught the movie, go watch it and count how many you can spot. Hint: one of them was the use of double deck bed).

I discussed with my movie-partner-of-the-day, dear Kenny who had rushed down to the cinema just half an hour before the show because of my last minute notification, what he liked/disliked about the movie. He find the lack of focus on a single main character, a little hard to concentrate. However, I beg to differ. I thought the move to give almost equal attention to the 6-7 main characters brought out the importance of team work in a basketball team, emphasizing on the point how no one should be taking the limelight.

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I’m usually skeptical about using too many non-actors in a film, but here I was impressed how the director managed to find players to fit the characters, so much that I could hardly feel “acting” within the film. Shao Hua, the ambitious one, who feels that one should work hard for what he wants; Chen Hang, the quiet giant who was willing to sacrifice himself to blend in to the crowd; Gao Ming, the rash player with a “violent” past; He Xiao Di, the cheerful one and He Da Di, the stable and matured elder brother, the two brothers who made me cry a lot. Of course, not to forget Jun Hui, the “narrator” of the film, the third party viewer of the whole event with his little crush. I can go on talking about the veterans including Choo Hou Ren, the China coach Wang Shuo, etc, whose experienced and stable acting skills supported the group of “newbie” players/actors. I can’t help but add in: I really like the part where Jun Hui’s Dad (Captain Wu – Qin Wei) was sandwiched front and back by the sponsor (Choo Hou Ren) and the parent (Johnny Ng), thumbs up for the use of monochrome filming!

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The two different age group of actors/ characters showed the different level and types of stress they are receiving. The young players from China beared the responsibility of being a professional basketball player with the aim to score for the “company” (micro), while the veterans received pressure from the media, the sponsors, the parents and the public (macro).

While some might disagree with my ratings (as I gave Spiderman 2 a 4.5 too), I wasn’t comparing it to a blockbuster. Perhaps the exact reason why I like the film was the nostalgic memories it brought me, bringing me back to the days when my schoolmates and I were crazy about basketball because of the Taiwanese Drama, My MVP Valentine (MVP情人) in 2002. In Meeting the Giant 再见巨人, I like how the director used slow-motion to enhance the anticipation and adrenaline of the matches and did not exaggerate the basketball moves with special effects or stunts.

Lim Shengyu
I noticed an interesting trend during the premiere. There were a few touching moments when there were audience laughing at. It was surprising for me as I was actually crying at those moments. I won’t try say what are those scenes, but (hint hint*) when I think of the scenes of Lim Shengyu (He Da Di) and Ian Fang (He Xiao Di), they still bring tears to my eyes now.

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I think I can go on and on talking about what I like about the film and what touched me, but the song “就在这里” sang by the director, Tay Ping Hui himself, was the song that made me cried the most, so much that I waited for the credits to roll and take a screenshot of the song title so that I could look for it online (The video -below wasn’t out at the point of time when I was watching the premiere)

So where did the 0.5 marks go? I had to say, if I have to talk about the one thing I didn’t quite like about the film, it will be the voice-dub. Yes, it was a necessary move as the some of the characters were supposed to be from China but they were acted by Singaporeans. However, I guess there were some voices which did not really match the look of the characters. According to Kenny (my movie partner), he was unable to feel for the characters because of the voice. Well, I guess this will most probably only matter in Singapore as most of the overseas audience will not know the original voice of the actors (hopefully).

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But all in all, this is by far, my favourite, out of all the local films I’ve watched, so I do highly recommend everyone to watch it! If you are not from Singapore, but will be interested to watch, do provide some feedback here for the producers’ consideration!

P.S. Because of my passion in acting, there are so many more things I wish to write about, but this review is getting a tad too lengthy. To know more about the characters’ profile, do follow producer Choo Hou Ren’s Instagram (@choohouren)! Will try to provide English translation! 🙂

Below is just a brief Chinese version of my review for my China friends! 🙂

再见巨人 影评:

曾经因为看了 郑导(两年前)拍的《兄弟》,很喜欢他通过摄影带出来的信息,所以当我知道 郑斌辉即将导这部电影时,便非常期待,想看看他能怎么把一部 以篮球为主题的电影拍成有他自己风格的电影。

既然电影还没正式上映,我也就不会说太多故事的情节,以免破坏了惊喜。但若你已经看了,想要讨论的话,可以在文章下面的讨论区发言哦!

《再见巨人》可以使“再见,巨人”或是“再见到巨人”的意思。我其实并没多想,直到电影播了大概10分钟。原来,电影紧扣名称,既是“再见”也是“再见到”。我特别喜欢导演把角色的高度带出来的方法。刚开始,我还以为那只是导演惯用的拍摄手法,用角色身体的不同部位和动作来介绍人物。直到观众都还以为角色快要露出脸,却有被“骗”的当儿,我才发现郑导要带出的信息。

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其实要显示球员的高度并不难,基本上只要有我这1.55m的矮冬瓜站在旁边就行了。但因为全部的球员都是1.8m以上,在镜头面前其实跟普通人没两样。所以在没有我这哈比人做比较,导演用了许多不同的方式带出球员的高度。(若你还没看这部电影的话,记得去数一数你能找到几个方式。暗示:其中一个是利用双层床)

和我一起看这部电影的是 大学同学Kenny,多谢他在我临时通知下,还肯搭德士下来陪我看。和他讨论了他喜欢与不喜欢这部电影的地方,他认为《再见巨人》的注意力都分散在太多不同的人物了,没有一个真正的主人翁,让观众分心,没办法把感情投在任何一个人物。但我却觉得,把注意力平均分散在6-7名球员,其式带出了篮球队的团队精神,强调球场上不应该有任何一个人独自出风头的道理。

meeting the giant cast

除此之外,我很佩服郑导竟然能找到专业球员 给予他们合适的角色。球员们几乎没有“在演戏”的感觉。王绍华:有野心又肯拼;陈航:沉默的巨人,为了能融入团队宁愿“牺牲”自己;高明:冲动但有爆发力的球员、何大弟与何小弟:一个文静沉熟;另一个开朗好玩,是一对夺走我很多泪水的兄弟。当然也有俊辉,电影的小小演说者,股市的旁观者以及他那暗恋对象。戏里的老姜 如朱厚任、中国教练王朔、‘家长’黄家强 等 的沉稳演技也衬托出 那一群“新手”的活力。不得不外加一句,俊辉的爸爸 吴领队(秦伟) 被家长(黄家强)和 龙老板(朱厚任)黑脸白脸 “前后夹攻”的那一幕,真的很赞!

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两个不同年龄层的人物各有自己必须承受的压力。来自中国的“外来人才”必须背负着职业篮球手的责任,帮公司赢球。而前辈的角色压力来自于媒体、赞助商、家长以及大众。

有些朋友其实并不赞同我给《再见巨人》的分数,可能因为我也给了《蜘蛛侠2》同样的分数吧。但若不跟好莱坞电影比,以一部小品来看待,这何不是篇好电影?其实,我喜欢这部片的另一个原因,是因为它让我想起中学时期爱看的台湾偶像剧《MVP情人》。郑导不用特效或特技来夸大球员的篮球技术,而是利用了慢动作/慢镜头 来增加观众对比赛的期待与刺激感。

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在预映会时,我发现了一件趣事。正当有几个感人电影情结让我哭得稀里哗啦时,有些观众却在这时候笑了。我也不想透露太多,但其中一幕就是何大弟、何小弟的兄弟情,现在想起来还是会感动。

而害我哭得这么惨的罪魁祸首,就是郑斌辉导演唱的《就在这里》。歌词、歌声都触动了心弦,字字句句都饱含着梦想与无奈。

若真的那么好,那那0.5分跑到哪儿了?我只能说,人物的配音是电影唯一的缺点。虽然这是因为其中的角色是来自中国的球员,但演员却是新加坡人,为了符合故事情节,影片只好找中国人来配音。但我觉得有些声音并不符合演员的长相,听起来怪怪的。陪我看电影的Kenny也说奇怪配音让他感到不舒服。

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虽说如此,这还是我近期看过的本地电影当中最喜欢的一部。我想强力推荐给大家看哦!这部电影机将与中国同步播出,如果你不是来自新加坡或中国,却像看这部电影的话,可以在下面的反馈箱提一些意见,让制片人知道!

*小女不才,没有朱厚任大哥的文笔,只是因为热爱演戏,才在此班门弄斧! 若想了解更多关于 演员以及导演的信息,可以关注制作人 的Instagram @choohouren哦!

Do You Know?

brothers2Meeting The Giant may be Tay Ping Hui’s first complete directorial debut, but he had previously directed a short beta 13 min TV film called Brothers 兄弟 where he and Zheng Ge Ping starred in.
虽然这是郑斌辉执导的处女电影,但他之前也有自编自导自演一部13分钟短片叫《兄弟》

meetingthegiant_07“Meeting The Giant” is inspired by an interesting occurrence in the early 2000s where talented sportsmen from overseas were brought to Singapore and groomed to play for the city state.
《再见巨人》故事灵感来自于真人真事,2000年早期新加坡引进了外来人才,栽培他们,让他们替新加坡参加比赛。

choo hou renVeteran actor, Choo Hou Ren had nurtured the idea of the film for 10 years, before managing to secure local movie producer and distributor Clover Films and a renowned entertainment company from China, Stellar Megamedia International, as investors. Also on board are Aquila Energy, which is owned by HK Choo, Houren’s younger brother, and local telco StarHub.
《再见巨人》是朱厚任孕育十多年的一部电影,后来因为得到了厂商赞助,才得以开拍。参与的有朱厚任的公司雄厚制作、本地的Clover Films与来自中国具有非常大影响力的星美集团首次合作制作的电影。

The production of the film cost approximately S$1.5 million.
制作成本120万美元(约150万新元)

While the producer took 10 years to prepare for the film, director Tay Ping Hui joked that he took only 10 minutes to agree to direct.
郑斌辉导演曾开玩笑说制作人花了10年筹备,他10分钟就答应导戏了。

Behind The Scenes and Interviews 幕后花絮/采访

Check out Meeting the Giant 再见巨人 Facebook Page!
Meeting the Giant 再见巨人 is out in cinemas on 19 June 2014.

xoxo
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*Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for the movie review.

17 thoughts on “Meeting the Giant Movie Review 再见巨人 影评”

  1. Hi! Any idea where to buy the dvd of meeting the giant? As I’ve been searching online/ local stores but can’t find it!

  2. great review! i used to watch My MVP Valentine too years back! there sure was a hype with basketball themed series that time! >XD

  3. Karen of MrsLookingGood

    I’ve never watched a Singaporean movie. This definitely looks like a hit especially with the guys who are into basketball and all the girl admirers of those actors. Hope it’s a box office success!

  4. This looks like it would be an entertaining and heartwarming movie to see. I wonder if we will see it released in North America at all? I will have to keep my eyes open for this. 🙂

  5. Jason Panuelos

    This looks like a great movie! The trailer looks interesting! I might try it soon! I’m not usually a sports fan but this movie looks nice! 😀

  6. This is a very nice review. I like movies about sports, and team work and I like the way you’ve shown the different movie techniques. I’ll watch out for this movie.

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