Category: Random Observations Bin
Friday, April 23, 2004
Fellow citizens, rejoice!
Today is the day Shaolin Soccer opens wide in the U.S.
The critics love it. I saw the Hong Kong DVD (thanks, Will!) and laughed my freaking ass off. You will love it too.
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Hmm...only one theater in the DC area? Not exactly "wide" release.
What are these studios thinking?
Any word on whether it's been cut?
"Wide release" is what they call it when they go beyond a limited NY/LA release. Even if it's only playing in one art house in each city, it's still playing in each city, hence "wide". There are lots of films that never go beyond NY/LA, so I guess we should be thankful for what we get...
As for the cut, Elvis Mitchell spoke to that in the NYT review ( http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/movies/02SOCC.html?ex=1112418000&en=1a00f1920b2bbc82&ei=5083&partner=USERLAND ):
" 'Soccer' was released in Hong Kong in 2001, and was available on DVD until nearly a year ago. Miramax bought it, tricked it up with new, simplified subtitles and scissored nearly half an hour of jagged subplots and brawling that might have compromised a get-'em-into-the-tent PG-13. To compensate, new music and English-language signs and graphics have been added, so the film seems to take place in an even odder world than most Hong Kong action epics."
There was a cut they showed at film festivals a while back that was pretty poorly received, but that was a different cut than this is.