HOOP DREAMS (1994)
DIRECTOR: STEVE JAMES
TRAILER
Hoop Dreams runs at almost 3 hours (171 minutes, to be exact) yet it feels much shorter than that. Just goes to show how much Steven James documentary sucks you in to the lives of two Chicago ghetto kids (William Gates and Arthur Agee) with one dream: to play for the NBA, and the ups and downs they have while trying to achieve that dream. The movie opens at the summer before William and Arthur's freshman year, who both end up attending St. Joseph's High School, an expensive suburban school that they wouldn't be able to go to if it wasn't for there amazing basketball skills, the documentary than follows them until it's time for them to head off to college.
Trust me, the film is much better than the above summary probably makes it seem. The movie is probably the ultimate sports documentary (if not the ultimate sports movie). You become completely absorbed in the lives of the Gates and Agee families through the four years the film follows them, cheering for them during there victories, and feeling genuine sympathy for them during there defeats. The film gives all of the characters room to expand and give there opinions on the events unfolding, giving the family members and friends huge amounts of personality which surprisingly isn't common during documentaries which focus on a certain person or groups of people.
On a not-so-positive note the film probably would've worked better as a mini-series than a 3-hour documentary, since there are many events in there lives that are only skimmed through. For instance, one of the two kids becomes a dad during the course of the film, yet the film for the most part ignores it. Though you see the kid he has throughout most of the second half of the film, the experience of raising a kid and juggling school and basketball simultaneously is not explained that well, to be honest.
BOTTOM LINE: Though Hoop Dreams has it's flaws, it's depth and emotional punch make it not to be missed.
8.5/10
