Hoop Dreaming

Rating: Null/10 (24 September 2017)

Released for a week from prison in a shady deal in which he has to convince his son to sign with a particular university, the father of a basketball prodigy struggles to reconnect with his teenage children in this Spike Lee drama. While basketball is a prominent theme and the film opens with majestic shots of various kids poetically playing the game, this is less a sports movie and more a study of estranged relationships with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen having close to equal screen time as father and son respectfully. Allen is nowhere near as polished an actor as Washington, but he has a nicely complex character, torn between offers from various universities, the wishes of his girlfriend, a desire to take responsibility for his sister and lots of resentment towards his father. Lee also admirably avoids spelling out Washington's criminal conviction until partway in, which gives us a chance to gradually warm to his character before discovering his heinous past actions. The film runs a little long with a subplot involving a hooker next door that could have been omitted completely; the ending is also a tad too maudlin for its own good. The vast majority of the film tugs on the right emotional strings though and together with some awesome music and excellent camera-work as per Lee par, this is a compelling watch regardless of one's interest in the sport of basketball.