Homerun (film)

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Homerun (Chinese: 跑吧,孩子 pinyin: pǎo bà, hái zǐ) is a Singaporean film adapted and directed by Jack Neo, and produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures. It stars Huang Wenyong, Xiang Yun, Shawn Lee and Megan Zheng.

Released in cinemas on 7 August 2003,^[1] Homerun grossed over S$2.2 million at the local box office. At the Golden Horse Awards 2003, Homerun received two nominations, and Megan Zheng became the first Singaporean to win a Golden Horse Award.

Homerun is an adaptation of the award-winning Iranian film Children of Heaven. Despite sharing the virtually the same storyline of a poor boy losing his little sister's shoes and sharing his, there are several notable differences between the two movies. Children of Heaven is set in Iran, but Homerun is set in Singapore in 1965, the year it separated from Malaysia. Children of Heaven's theme is poverty, but Homerun focuses on friendship. Homerun contains Jack Neo's trademark humour, satire, and subtle criticism of the government.

[edit] Plot

Set in 1965, the film's storyline revolves around the lives, family and friends of two poor Singaporean children, Chew Kiat Kun (Shawn Lee) and his younger sister Seow Fang (Megan Zheng). With their father (Huang Wenyong) in debt to a local rice merchant (Richard Low), and their mother (Xiang Yun) late in her third pregnancy, the family struggles to make ends meet. The children make due with what little they have, while their father works long hours doing odd jobs for a living.

Their problems are compounded when Kiat Kun accidentally loses Seow Fang's only pair of shoes after taking them to be repaired. A frantic search for them is fruitless, as a karung guni man previously claimed the shoes as unwanted rubbish. The Chew siblings despair of finding a solution until a statement by their father inspires Kiat Kun to share his shoes with his sister, trading off between classes so they can both attend school. Unfortunately, this plan is far from perfect; Seow Fang is chastised for wearing oversized shoes to school, while Kiat Kun is repeatedly late as he must wait for his sister to exchange shoes with him.

At school, Tan Beng Soon (Joshua Ang), a wealthy schoolmate of Kiat Kun's, runs a football team with his friends, using a football he received as a birthday gift. Kiat Kun and his friends strike a bargain with Beng Soon to play on the team using the other boys' football shoes, in exchange for helping the other boys cheat on their homework. However, the boys quarrel, causing an angry Beng Soon to renege on the deal and kick Kiat Kun and his friends off the team. Without the other boys' assistance, Beng Soon and his friends are punished for producing substandard homework.

Despite the bad blood between himself and Kiat Kun, Beng Soon decides to arrange a new deal with Kiat Kun, but under more onerous terms. Kiat Kun's initial joy turns to dismay when he realises that the shoes are too large. When he asks Beng Soon for a smaller pair, the rich boy feels slighted and threatens to throw the shoes away in a fit of pique. This causes the boys to get into an argument which they decide to settle with a football match.

The match is tightly contested with both teams scoring two goals apiece until, at the last moment, Beng Soon's team scores an own goal and loses the match. Upset at how the match was decided, Beng Soon refuses to acknowledge the outcome and makes Kiat Kun and his friends return the borrowed football equipment. With their agreement terminated for good, Beng Soon's grades continue to fall, and his parents decide to send him to study in England.

Meanwhile, Seow Fang notices that her classmate is wearing her lost shoes to school. Seeking to recover them, she and Kiat Kun follow the girl home, but after realising her father is blind, they decide not to reclaim the shoes. However, a few days later, Seow Fang notices that her classmate is wearing a new pair; upon confronting her, she discovers that the girl has discarded the old pair at the kampung rubbish dump. The Chew siblings frantically search the rubbish dump for her shoes, but only discover them as they are destroyed during a trade unionist riot.

Kiat Kun is dejected until he learns that the third prize in the 1965 National Primary School Cross Country Competition is a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, he was sick on the day his school selected representatives for the race. He pleads with the Principal to let him enter the race; the Principal, although initially reluctant, finally relents when Kiat Kun rushes to get his cough medicine, thereby convincing the Principal of his running ability.

[edit] Cast

The main characters were played by the following actors^[2]:

[edit] Political satire

Homerun is noted for containing some political satire, mostly directed at Malaysia. For example, in one scene, Kiat Kun's and Beng Soon's friends have an argument over water. This is a reference to the Malaysia-Singapore water conflict.^[3][4] In their various arguments and negotiations Kiat Kun's friends represent Singapore and Beng Soon's represent Malaysia.^[3] In another scene, when Kiat Kun and Seow Fang are searching for the shoes at the rubbish dump, a riot occurs - a reference to the 1964 Race Riots in Singapore.^[5] When Kiat Kun's mother is giving birth, the radio program in the background is Lee Kuan Yew's voice announcing Singapore's separation from Malaysia.^[5] A line about "writing a letter to a girlfriend and revealing it to the whole world" is a reference to a quote by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that Singapore's disclosure of correspondence between the two countries early that year was like revealing "letters sent to one's girlfriend".^[3] In addition, one of the kids is nicknamed "Little Red Dot", a phrase that was used by former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie to dismiss Singapore derisively.^[6]

On 17 August 2003, Malaysian censors decided to ban the screening of Homerun in Malaysia. ^[4] The ban sparked some controversy; according to polls by Life! and the China Press, Malaysians regarded the ban as unnecessary, and many said they would not mind buying a pirated VCD.^[3]

On 11 September 2007, however, Malaysian TV Channel NTV7 screened the movie at 10.45 pm

[edit] Reception

Homerun grossed over $2.2 million at the local box office.^[7][8] This is considerably higher than Children of Heaven's earnings of over $900,000.^[9]

Homerun won several awards,^[10][11][12] including the Grand Prix prize at the Golden Swan Awards 2003, the CIFEJ Prize at the 14th Cairon International Film Festival, the Golden Butterfly prize for Best Direction at the Isfahan International Children's Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Montreal International Children’s Film Festival. The film bagged two nominations in the Golden Horse Awards 2003, for Best Theme Song (拥有) and Best New Performer. Megan Zheng, who was only 10 years old then, became the first Singaporean to win a Golden Horse Award, sharing the Best New Performer award with Wang Baoqiang, who plays a miner in Blind Shaft.^[13][14][15]

Critics gave mixed reviews of Homerun, praising the film for its touching and universal storyline, but criticising it for its use of political satire.^[16][17][18]

Former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong commended Jack Neo's creative talent during the National Day Rally address on 17 August 2003.^[19] In 2004, Neo was the first local film-maker to receive a National Day Award,^[20] and on 21 October 2005, he and Dick Lee became the first pop culture artists to receive the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's highest arts award.^[21]

[edit] Trivia

• During the race, Kiat Kun's singlet bore the number 164, which, when translated into Chinese, sounds similar to "die all the way" (一路死), while Beng Soon's shirt bore the number 168, which sounds similar to "succeed all the way" (一路发).
• Before the soccer game, Little Red Dot says he has a secret weapon, BRAND's Essence of Chicken. This is a humorous reference to the product's television commercials.
• Homerun was filmed in Malaysia to get the "kampung" atmosphere.
• Singapore's national anthem "Majulah Singapura" is heard during the flag-raising at Seow Fang's school. However, as the events of the movie take place between March 1965 (the MacDonald House bombing of 10 March 1965 occurs at the beginning of the film) and August 1965 (the separation of Singapore from Malaysia occurs at the very end), Singapore would still have been part of Malaysia and the song would not have been played at the school flag-raising. Rather, Malaysia's national anthem, "Negaraku", would have been played instead.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• (Chinese) Official site
• Homerun at the Internet Movie Database