What begins as an amusingly dysfunctional take on the coming-of-age drama... founders when the tone switches to something much darker.
King of Ping Pong (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:6
Fresh:4
Rotten:2
Average Rating:5.3/10
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis:
In icy Sweden, 16-year-old Rille faces a daily grind, trying to get through life’s hassles with grace. Plump and moody, he’s the butt of many a school joke and only an onlooker where girls are...
In icy Sweden, 16-year-old Rille faces a daily grind, trying to get through life’s hassles with grace. Plump and moody, he’s the butt of many a school joke and only an onlooker where girls are concerned. Home life presents its own challenges: his single mom is dating a nerdy older man, his absent father (a professional underwater diver) is charismatic but undependable and usually drunk, and Rille and his younger brother, Erik, struggle to feel grounded in the domestic game of musical chairs.
Rille’s one refuge is ping pong. He’s an accomplished player and supervises a community ping-pong program for kids, acting as mentor and, okay, a sort of self-appointed king over his younger subjects. The entire formula of Rille’s life makes for a tenuous equilibrium, and this is threatened when family secrets are accidentally disclosed, setting Rille and Erik on an emotional collision course. But in his pained progress toward the chaotic adult world, Rille occasionally catches a glimpse of the possibility of surviving and thriving.
Director Jens Jonsson renders this delicate story with finesse and a quiet humor that infuses everyday drama, and even a few shocking moments of near calamity, with lightness and warmth. Outwardly quiet, but abuzz with emotional interest, King of Ping Pong is a lovingly etched portrait of the awkward years, certain to be familiar to many filmgoers. --© Sundance Film Festival
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Reviews for King of Ping Pong
If this kid were your classmate in school, you'd avoid him. Doing likewise with the movie won't hurt.
Part deadpan nerd comedy in the Napoleon Dynamite mode, part miserablist childhood saga a la My Life as a Dog, this isn’t quite funny or poignant enough to pull off either.
A pleasant if not entirely successful addition to the Scandinavian tragicomedy genre.
Latest News for King of Ping Pong
January 28, 2008:
Frozen River, The Wackness Lead 2008 Sundance Winners
The dust has settled in Park City, and now that the votes have been counted and the hardware's been handed out, we can give you 2008's Sundance rundown! More...
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