2017 Blind Spot Series: Hoop Dreams

Directed and narrated by Steve James and written by James and Frederick Marx, Hoop Dreams is a film that follows the lives of two high school students from Chicago and their dream to become professional basketball players. Filmed in the course of five years as it was originally meant to be a thirty-minute short film made for PBS. The film showcases the journey of two boys in William Gates and Arthur Agee and their hopes to make it so they can use their skills in basketball to give them a better life away from the violent-ridden streets in the poor sections of Chicago. The result is a rapturous and intoxicating film from Steve James.

The film follows the lives of two kids from the inner-city areas of Chicago who both dream of making it to the NBA as a way to get themselves and their families out of the ghetto. Shot in the course of nearly five years through the entirety of these two boys life in high school where they both start out at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois where Isiah Thomas had attended. Throughout the entirety of the film, the parallel lives of William Gates and Arthur Agee would showcase the many ups and downs they would endure in their high school career with a lot of expectations laid upon them. While they both start out as freshman at the prestigious private school, only Gates would play in the varsity team, under the leadership of coach Gene Pingatore, where he would display a lot of promise into the first two years while getting financial aid and such to be at the school despite ninety-minute commute from Chicago to Westchester.

Agee would arrive at the school in a similar manner yet would only be at the school for nearly a year-and-a-half due to rising tuition as his family were unable to pay for his sophomore year as only he only played for the school in its freshman team. Despite meeting his idol in Isiah Thomas, the experience at St. Joseph was bitter forcing Agee to attend the more public Marshall High School in Chicago. The film does have this air of a rise-and-fall or fall-to-rise scenario as it relates to both Gates and Agee, respectively, in the way they would encounter their own environments and personal situations. The latter would endure his own family breaking up with his drug-addicted father struggling to be clean and would leave for a time before redeeming himself during Agee’s junior year and be there for him in his senior year.

Both Gates and Agee wouldn’t just struggle with academics but also the demands of living up to their potential as basketball players. Gates would be able to balance both as he was well-liked at St. Joseph but when he injured his right knee in his junior year. Things began to change as he struggled to get back in the game as he also had hard time living up to Pingatore’s demands. While Agee would go through a harder time academically where he would attend summer school during his junior and senior years. He would eventually succeed in basketball where he would take Marshall to the semi-finals of the state championship in his senior year where they finished third. Though Agee’s academics were good enough to get him to a junior college, it was Gates that would go to Marquette in Wisconsin yet he would question a lot of things in the course of the last two years of his high school tenure.

Steve James’ direction is very intimate in the way he capture the four years in the life of these two boys as it’s shot largely in hand-held cameras often inside cars or at the school with the aid of cinematographer Peter Gilbert and several camera operators in the course of the shooting. James, co-writer/co-producer Frederick Marx, and editor William Haugse would gather more than 250 hours of footage as the editing is a highlight of the film. Notably in the usage of slow-motion and other stylized cutting to help tell the story and move it back and forth in the different stories of Gates and Agee. James’ direction help add a lot to the story where it also showcases the dangers of the inner city as that dream of making it to the NBA is something that is a gateway out of the idea of possible death in the streets.

The sound work of Adam Singer and Tom Yore would help play into the world of the ghetto as well as the raucous atmosphere of the games including the state tournament games in Champaign, Illinois while Yore would create some score music with main music producer Ben Sidran as it‘s music soundtrack largely consists of hip-hop and jazz music. The music at times is somber as it relates to the struggle that these two boys endure but also have something that play into where they come from and the need to do something great.

Hoop Dreams is an outstanding film from Steve James. Not only is it a riveting sports documentary but it’s a whole lot more as it follow the lives of two boys trying to make it out of the inner city through their skills playing basketball. It’s a film that covers so much yet manages to do with such humanity as well as an understanding of where these boys come from and the struggle they have to endure to reach the impossible dream. In the end, Hoop Dreams is a magnificent film from Steve James.

© thevoid99 2017

Life Itself

Based on the memoir Life Itself: A Memoir, Life Itself is a documentary about the life and works one of the most revered film critics of the 20th Century in Roger Ebert. Directed by Steve James, the film looks into Ebert’s career as a film critic that included his notable partnership with fellow critic Gene Siskel. The film also looks into the final months of Ebert’s life as he succumbed to the effects of thyroid cancer that eventually claimed him on April 4, 2013. Featuring appearances from filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Ramin Bahrani, and many others including Ebert’s widow Chaz. The result is one of the most moving and exhilarating portraits of one of cinema’s great voices.

There is probably no film critic, aside from Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, who made a major impact for film criticism and film writing better than Roger Ebert in the second half of the 20th Century and in the early stages of the 21st Century. Yet, this film is about Ebert’s life not just a critic who championed films and filmmakers that a wide audience might’ve not known or heard of. It’s a film about the man himself who struggled with alcoholism until embracing sobriety in 1979 and the loving husband to his soul mate Chaz who would be there for him until the day he died. The film would move back and forth into Ebert’s life as a man and as a film critic but also in the final five months of his life as he was trying to recover from cancer that he had been battling for years as it would rob him of his voice and lower jaw.

Steve James’ direction is quite simple as he captures the final months of Ebert’s life as he spends that time in a hospital and rehab center while using his computer to talk and such. Chaz is a prominent figure in the film as she would comment everything as well as glimpse of Ebert’s step-children and grandchildren who were a major part of his life. Along with appearances from filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Gregory Nava, Ramin Bahrani (who would visit Ebert at the hospital), and Errol Morris who talked about Ebert’s importance in their work. There’s also interviews with friends and colleagues like film critics A.O. Scott and Richard Corliss as well as Gene Siskel’s widow Marlene.

Ebert’s relationship with Gene Siskel was a unique one where the two had very different personalities yet loved films as it was one of the reasons why their show At the Movies became so important to film criticism. Even as it helped expose smaller films while bring a different appeal that allowed a wide audience to see what they had to say. Martin Scorsese talks about their infamous review of The Color of Money which still hurts him to this day. There’s also the story about Richard Corliss taking criticism over Siskel and Ebert’s show as Corliss talks about that little feud. With David E. Simpson aiding James in the editing, the film showcases a lot of footage of the show including outtakes where Siskel and Ebert take jabs at each other but do it with a lot of love.

With help from cinematographer Dana Krupper, the film has a very simple yet vibrant look into the way James captures Ebert’s final months as he struggles with his rehab and regaining the ability to walk. James knows how not to infuse a lot of sentimentality to the film as there’s this mixture of humor and drama as well as the moment when Ebert dies. The film’s music by Joshua Abrams doesn’t drown things out as it is mostly low-key in its jazz music setting while the soundtrack also features some jazz music from the artists that Ebert loves as well as a poignant Leonard Cohen song that really says a lot about Ebert’s relationship with Chaz. Overall, James crafts a very delightful yet heartfelt film about a guy who loved a woman named Chaz, a guy named Gene, and cinema.

Life Itself is a magnificent film from Steve James about the life and work of Roger Ebert. The film isn’t just a very touching and engaging documentary about an influential film critic but a man who loved life no matter how hard it was in the final years of his life. Even as he gets testimonials from those he championed as well as colleagues who think of him as a brother. In the end, Life Itself is an incredibly moving and wondrous film from Steve James.

© thevoid99 2014