Review - Leap (2020)

August 7, 2026
 
Leap – China, 2020
 

Movie mentors have it made. Be they music teachers that throw their batons at students’ heads, ballroom dancing teachers substituting at an inner city high school, or – in the case of Peter Ho-Shun Chan’s Leap – a volleyball coach who pummels his players with hard-hit volleyballs until, sore, depleted of energy, and bleeding from the knees, they give them “30 good stops,” their methods, while unorthodox to say the least, will have been shown to have been just what a main character or team needs to go from good to great. And what words of wisdom they have. At just the moment when the players are at their lowest and facing imminent defeat, a few words from their wise guru is always enough to reignite the players’ passions and rather abruptly improve their skills. It’s a lie, of course (just look at the poor mentors trying in vain to inspire the other side), but it’s also downright cinematic.
 
Chan’s film is based on the real-life experiences of Lang Ping (played at different ages by Lydia Bai and legendary actress Gong Li), who as a young woman trained and played on the Chinese national team in the 1981 Volleyball World Cup before becoming a successful coach for both the U.S. and the Chinese Olympic volleyball teams. Also on this journey is an assistant coach named Chen Zhonghe (played by Yuchang Peng and Huang Bo), who begins the film a bit like Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own and ending the film also like Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. Early in the film, Chen learns that Lang cannot practice with the team until she successfully lifts 200 kilograms, a challenge that she completes after Chen suggests she quit. This has a rather curious effect. At one point during a practice game against the men’s team, Chen becomes so impressed with Lang’s efforts and energy that he blurts out, “If you can beat us, I’ll train with you for life!” One guess how that game ends.
 
In a more formulaic film, that line would culminate in a partnership of sorts, perhaps even start a romance. Instead, Leap jumps ahead to the World Cup championship, in which Lang’s team competes against Japan. It is a move that, in most sports films, would signal the arrival of the climax. The genius of Chan’s film, however, is that the game and the fervent efforts of the young women who play in it, have an additional importance, one similar to that of the 1980 Olympic Hockey Finals between the United States and the Soviet Union. In other words, victory would have incredible significance. It would be a sign that the past does not define them, that they can rise from the ashes of political turmoil and meet the challenges needed to move forward. In one of the most surprising moments of any Chinese film I’ve ever seen, the team’s coach, the same one who is intent upon making his players the best in the world regardless of the stress and strain his methods put on them, recalls the pride he felt when he played for the national team in 1966 and his utter heartbreak at the ten years that went by before any athlete could compete again.  His words fire up his team, and this time, I completely believe that they would.
 
And then Leap leaps ahead, yet the economic development that takes place in the coming years has a curious effect. It enables Lang to pursue an education in the United States, while Chen remains in China, eventually achieving the coveted position of head coach of the women’s volleyball team. Progress, it seems, separates them, and it is nationalism, not love, that ultimately reconnects them.
 
Alas, too much screen time is devoted to games whose outcome are already known or predictable and not enough to the evolving relationship and personalities of its two lead characters. Also, Leap cannot escape many of the familiar tropes of other sports films. Almost every sports film has an undervalued player that proves pivotal to the team’s success later on, a player that tries to quit only to return and try even harder, a coach who has to learn to overcome erroneous preconceptions, and a much-needed heart-to-heart when seemingly down and out in a game’s final moments. There are also scenes that are eerily reminiscent of more impactful ones from Remember the Titans and Mr. Baseball. Interestingly, the film makes a point of flashing onto the screen the names and numbers of all of the members of the team, which, I suspect, plays better if one is already knowledgeable of the players and their exploits.
 
However, when the film focuses on the question of the importance of sports to a nation that is no longer recovering from adversity, it is a revelation. I thought back to 1980, to a time when two generations, parent and child, believed that nuclear war could erupt at any moment, to those games that took on extra significance between they were us versus them, and then my mind flashed to the present day. Would a game played today resonate in the same way? Twenty years later, would people remember where they were when the winning goal was scored. I doubt it. Trauma, and a country’s recover from it, makes it important to rally as a country, to look for clear evidence of strength and resilience, and to be able to wave one’s national flag unflinchingly. Remove that, and what do you have? A quest for television ratings? A medal count that will be forgotten the next day? Fantastic stories about individuals and the obstacles they overcame? The possibility of endorsement deals and financial security? The times have certainly changed. (on Blu-ray from Imprint)
 
3 stars
 
*Leap is in Mandarin and English.
*It goes without saying that both Gong Li and Huang Bo give impressive, heartfelt performances.