Once upon a time, in Akron, Ohio, four kids befriended each other in elementary school and became the core of one of the greatest teams in high school basketball history. That’s the story told in Kristopher Belman’s debut documentary. That Belman came from Ohio too is what led him to talk to their coach about filming their story. That one of the players was future NBA star LeBron James is certainly the reason the film is showing up on large screens, but it has more to offer than the rags-to-riches tale of a famous athlete.
James was already attracting media attention when Belman began his project, but he focuses equally on the other players who made up the core of the team. Dru Joyce, whose football-playing dad learned to coach basketball just to further the boy’s interest in the game, and who became an excellent shooter while still under five feet tall, is an appealing underdog. The movie is neither geared to a sports junkie—i.e., there is no detail about playing tactics—nor able to completely transcend the sports genre. Big Games—a nearly won amateur championship for preteens, and the 2003 national high school championship game—bookend the film, as might be expected. What’s surprising, of course, is that these same players stuck together so long, and this became the basis for their collective success.
Hoop Dreams remains the benchmark of high school basketball documentaries. The profiles in that movie run deeper, and a sense of desperation runs through those stories that you don’t feel here, even when James recalls having to move from city to city with a struggling single mother. Still, the film is pleasant to watch throughout, and abundant game footage shows that James was capable of some amazing shooting well before he became a household name.
IMDB link
viewed 10/7/09 at Ritz 5 [Philadelphia Film Society screening] and reviewed 10/16/09
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