HOMERUN (FILM)

'''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.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Political satire

Reception

Trivia

Notes

External links

Plot

Chew Kiat Kun (played by Shawn Lee) and his sister Seow Fang (Megan Zheng) are poor children whose father (Huang Wenyong) owes a rice shop owner (Richard Loh) money and does odd jobs for a living and to pay off his debt. Their mother (Xiang Yun) is heavily pregnant.
After getting Seow Fang's shoes fixed by a cobbler, Kiat Kun places them in the rice shop,following the arrival of the rag-and-bone man,who mistakes the shoes as unwanted goods. After breaking the news to a devastated Seow Fang, and unsuccessfully trying to find the shoes, Kiat Kun tries to think of solutions to the problem. A statement made by his father inspires Kiat Kun to share his shoes with his sister, which is feasible, because at school, Seow Fang is in the morning session while Kiat Kun is in the afternoon session.
Tan Beng Soon (Joshua Ang) is a rich kid. His father buys him a football for his birthday and he started a team named ROJAK, which Kiat Kun and his friends joined. Later, his father buys soccer shirts and shoes to support the team. However, the boys quarreled during one of the games, causing Kiat Kun and his friends to be kicked out of the team.
In the meantime, Kiat Kun is punished for being repeatedly late for school because he has to wait for Seow Fang to return home and give him her shoes. Seow Fang is also punished by her teacher for wearing the wrong shoes to school.
Kiat Kun's and Beng Soon's friends had earlier made a deal whereby Beng Soon's friends loan their ball, shoes and shirts to Kiat Kun's friends in return for doing their homework. With Kiat Kun's friends kicked out of the team, the deal is off, and Beng Soon's friends are punished by their teacher Mrs Ang (Patricia Mok) for sub-standard homework. As a result, they unwillingly strike another deal with terms that are worse for Kiat Kun's friends. Despite a stormy debate, they eventually come to a resolution.
Kiat Kun is punished by the principal for being late and made to clean trophies. Halfway through, his friend replaces him while he rushes off to give Beng Soon's friends their completed homework. Kiat Kun's friends are invited to a feast, but after a remark by a boy known as ''Little Red Dot'',^[2] Beng Soon gets angry and threatens to terminate their deal. They decide to keep the deal if Kiat Kun's friends can beat Beng Soon's in a game of soccer. Beng Soon's team score the first two goals, then Kiat Kun's team catch up. The match concludes with one of Beng Soon's friends scoring an own goal. Because of the way the game was decided, Beng Soon terminates the deal as if Kiat Kun's team had failed to win, and then resigns as captain of his team. Mrs Ang discovers that Beng Soon has been cheating in his work and punishes him by caning him in front of his furious parents, who later force Beng Soon to give up soccer and arrange to send him to overseas study.
Kiat Kun's father, Mr Chew, gets a job at the rice shop, ferrying goods with a bicycle. His hopes of paying off his debts and buying shoes for Seow Fang are crushed after they have an accident while riding the bicycle. In addition, Kiat Kun is almost expelled from school for his repeated late arrival at school, but is given a second chance.
Kiat Kun wins a pen for topping his class in a test, which he gives to Seow Fang. During a morning assembly, Seow Fang spots a classmate wearing her old shoes and sneakily follows her home to get them back. However, Seow discovers that her classmate's father is blind and out of sympathy, she decides not to take back her shoes.
Seow Fang misplaces her pen, and it is her classmate (who has her old shoes) who finds it and returns it to her. Seow Fang sees that her classmate has a new pair of shoes, and later finds out from her that she has dumped the old shoes at the Kampung rubbish dump.
Kiat Kun and Seow Fang search for her shoes in the rubbish dump. They find one, and while trying to recover the other, a riot occurs. Fighting between the rioters and police ensues, and in the process, Seow Fang's other shoe is torn to pieces.
On the day that Kiat Kun's school is selecting representatives for the 1965 National Primary School Cross Country Competition Kiat Kun fakes being unwell and does not participate in the selection process. Later, when he discovers that the third prize is a pair of school shoes, he pleads with his teacher (Mark Lee), who is sick with a severe cough, to allow him to participate in the race. He initially refuses, but when his cough gets very bad, Kiat Kun rushes to get his medicine, thereby convincing the teacher to include him in the race.
Kiat Kun discovers that Beng Soon is also participating in the race. In the middle of the race, Kiat Kun and Beng Soon run and get stuck in a muddy quicksand-like pit, but eventually break free and continue running. Kiat Kun appears assured of third place, but trips on a stone and finishes first, with Beng Soon finishing third. Kiat Kun offers Beng Soon his medal in exchange for his prize shoes, but in his anger, Beng Soon throws them away.
Mrs Chew goes into labour and Seow Fang runs barefoot across a path littered with broken glass to find a midwife. Finally, Mrs Chew gives birth to a healthy baby boy, while Beng Soon turns over a new leaf and gives Seow Fang and Kiat Kun a new pair of shoes before he travels to study in England.

Cast

According to the official Homerun website,^[3] the main characters of the movie were played by the following actors:

Actor/Actress	Character
Huang Wenyong	Mr Chew
Xiang Yun	Mrs Chew
Shawn Lee	Chew Kiat Kun
Megan Zheng	Chew Seow Fang

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.^[4][5] In their various arguments and negotiations Kiat Kun's friends represent Singapore and Beng Soon's represent Malaysia. 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.^[6] 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. 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". 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.^[7]
On 17 August 2003, Malaysian censors decided to ban the screening of ''Homerun'' in Malaysia. 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.

Reception

Megan Zheng won the Best New Performer Award at the Golden Horse Awards 2003.

Homerun grossed over $2.2 million at the local box office.^[8][9] This is considerably higher than Children of Heaven's earnings of over $900,000.^[10]
Homerun won several awards,^[11][12][13] 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''.^[14][15][16]
Critics gave mixed reviews of Homerun, praising the film for its touching and universal storyline, but criticising it for its use of political satire.^[17][18][19]
Former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong commended Jack Neo's creative talent during the National Day Rally address on 17 August 2003.^[20] In 2004, Neo was the first local film-maker to receive a National Day Award,^[21] 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.^[22]

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.

Notes

1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356696/releaseinfo
2. A reference to Singapore's nickname, Little Red Dot.
3. http://www.homerunthemovie.com.sg/eng/movie/actor.asp
4. No need to ban Homerun
5. Malaysia to ban Jack Neo's Homerun
6. http://historyworkroom.com/?p=23
7. A Little Red Dot and Tension Across the Taiwan Strait
8. http://www.sfc.org.sg/bulletin/Jan2004_issue.PDF
9. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356696/business
10. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118849/business
11. http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/about_us/corp_profile.htm
12. http://www.justfollowlaw.com.sg/jackNeo.asp
13. http://www.nac.gov.sg/Data/news/239/(CD)PR_Arts%20Awards%202005.doc
14. http://www.lovehkfilm.com/features/gha_2003.htm
15. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2003/12/14/2003079594
16. http://stars.zaobao.com/localstar/pages/award141203.html
17. http://lovehkfilm.com/panasia/homerun.htm
18. http://www.nmpft.org.uk/btm/2006/filmdetail.asp?ida=6295
19. http://www.filmsasia.net/gpage155.html
20. http://www.gov.sg/nd/ND03.htm
21. Jack Neo honoured with National Day awards
22. Dick Lee, Jack Neo among this year's Cultural Medallion recipients

External links

★ Official site

★