Rhapsodies

In honor of the final week of March Madness I decided the perfect choice for this week would be some basketball films I’d been curious about for who knows how long. I figured this was as good an excuse to finally force myself to watch them.

The first film on my list, Hoosiers, was a film that was completely different than what I thought it was about. Based on the name I just assumed it was a film about college basketball… presumably the University of Indiana… it was not.

Gene Hackman plays Norman Dale a former basketball coach who has been hired to be the basketball coach for a tiny high school in small farming community in rural Indiana.

It’s a challenging hob. Not only does he initially have only five player to work with but he also has most of the town playing backseat driver to his coaching technique.

This was a good solid film even if it was pretty much by the numbers as inspirational stories about underdogs persevering go. It even had the final big game in slow motion.

My next film, Love and Basketball tells the story of Quincy(Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan), two kids who fist meet when Monica moves into the neighborhood when they are 11. They form a fast friendship that gradually becomes more than that with their shared love of basketball. Throughout the movie we watch them progress from high school, college and professional careers all the while showing the constant balancing act between their passion for the game and each other.

This is a sweet film. probably a little sappy for my tastes, (but then I’m an annoying cynic) Epps and Lethan have fantastic chemistry together and watching them grow from best friends to lovers is a pleasure. I also liked the feeling of dedications where in the process of showing of the love of the sport, Basketball becomes far more than a sport. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKXP-KrY2UYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKXP-KrY2UY