Soul In The Hole

Comparisons to HOOP DREAMS are inevitable, so here goes: No, Danielle Gardner's documentary about Brooklyn's summertime street basketball tournaments is not as technically accomplished; it does not share that film's emotional sweep; and, at half the running time, it doesn't come close to HOOP DREAM's epic scope. Gardner's film, however, is a raw, rough-and-tumble portrait of a urban American pastime that many suburbanites know nothing about. Played all summer long on playgrounds across New York City, street basketball is a highly organized game with its own rules, teams and superstars. Gardner follows Bedford-Stuyvesant's popular "Kenny's Kings," a team coached by ...