Best movie of this year hands down!

Touches You

So much average

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Ping Pong is a movie that is intended for a senior audience. It is about being able to take oneself out of the rut of every day life, and have fun, especially when one is eighty years old. This film started out in a very documentary style, but soon transformed into something magical. Maybe it was the transition, when the scene of the airplane soaring into the skies took place, or maybe it was the organized chaos in China that changed the mundane mood of the near-to-death experience. Whatever it was, there was an element of excitement in this movie, which contributed to the individuals personal drives and ambitions, and this lifted the spirits of the players and the viewers of the film in the audience, hence kudos to the director of the film for being able to capture the love-for-life, and for putting it together for all to witness and enjoy.

Greetings again from the darkness. Missing a lung? No excuse. Had a kidney removed? Please. Suffer a few strokes? Let's play. Struggling with Dementia? Grab a paddle. Rarely has the human spirit provided a better platform than in director Hugh Hartford's documentary about super seniors (age 80+) and their pursuit of a World Championship in Table Tennis/Ping Pong.We get to know a group of these players through interviews and a glimpse into their personal life. The core group in the film ranges from age 81 to 89 and are in various stages of health ... from pretty spry (one of the ladies has a boy toy 20 years younger) to hospital-bound given only a week to live (the interview took place 5 months after that diagnosis). One thing I noticed in each of these experienced folks ... put a paddle/bat in their hand and you can see the twinkle in their eyes and a bounce in their step! There are multiple World Championships represented here. There are arch rivals. Their are long time friends. We even meet a legendary Australian player ... she competes at 100 years old! The rookie from Houston describes her own playing "as irregular as my driving". One of the men spouts off poetry and Irish limericks before dismantling an opponent on the table.This is a pleasure to watch. Should you question the motivation of these elderly folks, take in this quote: "I'll keep playing. I don't want to sit down. I don't want to die."

Ping Pong, a documentary, follows the fortunes of eight elderly amateur table tennis players from around the globe as they compete in the Over-80s Table Tennis Championships, held in Inner Mongolia.To some, the Inspire a Generation tagline for the London 2012 Olympics may be perceived as too one-dimensional, focusing narrowly on the pubescent bracket, whilst other, more refined age groups are left without the sporting encouragement and concern they deserve. Ping Pong firmly puts our OAPs back in the frame, proving that there is life to be found in the old dogs, yet. The timely message of this piece transcends our Olympiad's stale beacon of motivation, by attesting that the spectre of mortality in old age is no barrier to participating in a good old fashioned game of table tennis, or any sport or activity for that matter.As with many good documentaries, Ping Pong's subject matter becomes interesting and engrossing with the rolling of the film, whilst dually being ostensibly arid before viewing. Another potential problem the film manages to negate is the threat of a patronising tone towards the table tennis playing pensioners; however, our competitors are so engaging, charming and entertaining, that this is never a distraction, making Ping Pong a wonderfully fascinating documentary.

Before I gush, let me say - hand on heart - that I have NO connection with this film or its makers. I just went along to see it because documentaries nowadays are increasingly more interesting than 'real' films.Ping Pong is no exception to that rule. It's the antidote to the X Factor - the story of eight pensioners from around the world competing in the World Ping Pong Championships in China. Each competitor is interviewed at home about their lives and participation in the sport, and we watch them prepare (or not!) before setting off.Their stories are funny, admirable, affecting and astonishing; their characters diverse as the nations they represent. My own favourite was Inge, the German woman who was saved from what sounds like dementia by ping pong. I found myself laughing and filling up in turn as these feisty old folk set off for the contest with a range of ambitions and emotional baggage.The entire film is uplifting and gently gripping, sucking you in to the lives and backgrounds of these people. It would be the perfect film to show schoolchildren, as it reveals old age in all its wonderful, terrible incarnations.If only most screenwriters could capture one tenth of the emotional impact of Ping Pong, the film industry would be something to behold.