Strike the White Ball (1980)
Genre :
Runtime : 1H 55M
Director : Kenji Yoshida
Writer : Shūkei Nagasaka
Synopsis
1980 Japanese film distributed by Shochiku.
Randy Daytona was a child ping pong prodigy who lost his chance at Olympic gold when his father is murdered by the mysterious Feng over a gambling debt. 15yrs later he's down on his luck and scraping a living doing seedy back room shows in Vegas; when the FBI turn up and ask for his help to take down Feng... who just happens to love Ping Pong.
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
Bilike has never seen a ping-pong ball before. He and his family live without electricity and running water in a solitary tent home among the vast steppe grasslands. The magnificent landscape here has changed little since the days of Genghis Kahn. But life in the middle of nowhere can be exciting for a young boy. The smallest of details become big events for curious Bilike and his best friends Erguotou and Dawa. The mystery of the small white ball floating in the creek leads to questions about the world around them, as well as innocent mischief.
As children, the introverted Smile was being bullied by a gang of kids until the brash Peco comes by and chases all of them them away. Peco then takes Smile under his wings and teaches him how to play the game of ping pong. From there a life long best friend relationship comes into existence between these two polar opposite kids.
Les D'Arcy is a living legend. At 89 years old, he's obviously not received the memo about slowing down, and is going for gold, literally. He's headed to China to compete in the over 80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. A seven time world champion, he still lifts weights to train - something he's been doing for decades, after surviving a sickly childhood. Of course compared to some, Les is a spring chicken. Australian legend Dorothy deLow is 100, and finds herself a mega celebrity in this rarefied world. She'd better watch out though- Texan Lisa Modlich is fifteen years her junior and is determined to do what it takes to win her first gold. Director Hugh Hartford follows eight players from five countries, as they prepare to compete in this extraordinary sporting event that is as much about the tenacity of the human spirit as it is about taking home the title.
Rabbit and Deer are living happily and careless until their friendship is put to the test by Deer's new obsession to find the formula for the 3rd dimension. After an unexpected accident Deer finds himself in a new world, unknown to him. Separated by dimensions the two characters have to find the way back to each other.
In 1985 a summer vacation in Ocean City, Md., changes the life of a shy white teen who's obsessed with table tennis and hip-hop music.
A middle-aged man walks up to young man who is sitting under a tree and shoots him. The film then flashes back to 1981, where a young woman steals a car with a baby strapped inside. She decides to raise the child as her own, and teaches him to shoplift from stores while she works as a prostitute. She strikes up a relationship with a convenience-store clerk, and the two eventually settle down together.
A unified team representing the two Koreas competed at the 1991 Chiba International Table Tennis Championships. It was the first such sport team since the division of the Korean peninsula. The unified team won the group competition event, beating the front runner, China.
An experimental sports film made partly during the Scandinavian Open Championships in Halmstad in 1970, partly during the Chinese players' exhibition tour in Denmark immediately after the SOC. First of all, it is a film about their style, about the artistic culmination that is ping-pong at its best, it records China's comeback into the international sports world.
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Everyday a woman feverishly practices ping pong by herself. She play ping pong to distract herself from the reality of her life which includes the occasional sexual harrasment at work. A chance encounter one night slowly begins to change her world.
Three teenagers battle their way through the world of competitive ping pong with their hearts set on the Olympics.
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A table tennis documentary about the work the Swedish national team did in the 70's and 80's leading trying to find a way to break the seemingly impenetrable Chinese Wall.
With dreams bigger than his small stature, a rural rabbit named Robb hurls himself in pursuit of his province’s biggest prize, a storied ‘Jade Table’ awarded annually to the finest ping pong player in the land. Standing in his path is the fact that rabbits don’t play ping pong, and the province’s perennial champion is a ruthless monkey who uses the Jade Table to amass power and wealth, with no plans to relinquish either. Robb must prove that rabbits will no longer run scared, and that his improbable ping pong dreams will change not only his future, but also the fate of his entire province.
A young journalist befriends a businessman and learns that after his dream of becoming a Ping-Pong player was cut short, he escaped to Hong Kong in search of a better life. Inspired by his story, the journalist decides to pursue her dreams.
Ping pong is this girl’s entire world. But away from home and on her own in college, she makes the bold move to share her family tradition with a special new someone.