Tuesday, May 18, 2010
FAMILY
Today's movie was the documentary
This is a basketball story but you do not have to know shit about basketball because it isn't really about that. Somehow they convey the thrill of it without the boredom and do not ask more of me than I sit and watch the wonder of growing boys at play.
I am drawn to documentaries where the work started a long time ago and as life turned out the work came to fruition in a great story.
This is a story of the five kids who started playing together because they had nothing else to do, their coach who changed from football to basketball because his son wanted him to and a team that went on to become national champions. The group also happened to include Le Bron James. The superstar.
What luck for the makers.
What skill to tell a human interest story that transcends sport, race, cliché and manages to avoid the pitfalls of the myth of sports as a maker of men.
These are basically homeless kids except for the coach's son who is too short to play in any team.
They form a family together.
The construction of the story is very skillfully done. And warmly.
These people have faults. You can see them. They have troubles, we get to share them for a short while.
Very good. The whole thing could not be done better with a fictionalized story.
I would happily see it again. that makes it a 4 out of Netflix5. And I still don't know shit about basketball.
Labels: films
