Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Masterpiece!

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The documentary starts with 89 year old Les Darcy talking about his former teammate and world table tennis champion 81 year old Terry Donlan on a radio programme. Terry is ill with prostate cancer. Les quotes:If with pleasure you are viewing any work a man is doing, If you like him or you love him, tell him now; Don't withhold your approbation till the parson makes oration And he lies with snowy lilies on his brow; No matter how you shout it he won't really care about it; He won't know how many teardrops you have shed; If you think some praise is due him now's the time to slip it to him, For he cannot read his tombstone when he's deadThe film then moves back to six months earlier. Terry is still reasonably well, his cancer controlled. In Sweden we see Rune Forsberg, Swedish champion. Then USA - Houston – Lisa and Jim Modlich. To Germany - Ursula Bihl, and Inge Hermann, both 89 years old. Mongolia – Sun Yon Qing. Australia – Dorothy deLow. They are all travelling to China for the 2010 World Senior (over 85) Table Tennis Championships. Anson and Hugh Hartford have produced a little gem of a documentary. We share in the life stories of these sporting heroes, observe their struggle against a variety of opponents and marvel at the indefatigable human spirit. The music and filming never get in the way of the subjects who are somehow more majestic, the more humble they act. Everyone should see this, whatever age you are.

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."

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.

Who knew that there was such a thing as the Over 80s world table tennis championships? That alone is intriguing enough to draw you into this remarkable documentary . The film makers have chosen some extraordinary characters to follow through the tournament , engaging , likable -for the most part- entertaining and a wonderful endorsement for the benefits, physical, emotional and mental of playing this game. It is honest too, unsentimental and doesn't shy away from the downsides of old age . You learn the central characters' back stories, follow them through the tournament, see, as you do in any sport contested at the highest level, ruthlessness, gamesmanship ,if not downright skulduggery , and witness the players meeting triumph and disaster -or at least losing . You root for your heroes, boo silently at the villain and come away determined to start playing yourself .