Second-half perfection sends 'Dreams' to second roundHONG KONG (AP) --
Hoop Dreams has escaped the upset bug.
After watching
Pulp Fiction and
Quiz Show lose their first round matchups, many fans of the 1994 Conference were wondering if any of their top-seeded teams would make it to the weekend.
Hoop Dreams calmly put those fears to rest tonight, racking up a season-high 105 points and keeping
Gummo's arty and aggressive play-calling in check for most of the contest.
Although the Chicago documentarians never trailed, they exhibited some big game jitters in the first half, letting Harmony Korine's upstart
Gummo squad stay closer than expected.
"We didn't play with confidence right out the gate,"
Hoop Dreams director Steve James said afterwards. "It took us some time to figure out what our subject really even was. And how to film it."
Cinematographer Peter Gilbert also chalked up the slow start to inexperience. "We were learning as we went," he said. "And we had a helluva lot to learn."
The
Gummo players did their best to capitalize. While
Hoop Dreams was methodically piecing together its ambitious gameplan, Korine's band of misfits countered with an arresting meld of fictional and non-fictional aesthetics. Alternating from an intimate style to one altogether distancing, the tone poem to exurbia staggered its opponent at times. But it was unable to deliver an early knockout blow.
The deciding factor in the first half seemed to be
Hoop Dreams's ability to limit Korine's greatest strength: his recruiting. The
Gummo team is able to intimidate most opponents with its lineup of rough-hewn outcasts, drawn from areas of rural poverty that coaches and scouts from the major conferences have historically overlooked.
But fourth-seeded
Hoop Dreams, a fellow mid-major, matches
Gummo strength for strength. Few if any other teams in the tournament can boast of more fortuitous casting. And the depth of the bench is similarly unparalleled.
Asked about the difficulties presented by this pairing, Korine replied, "I could answer that, but that's just boring to me. I'd rather just jump out a window, just shoot myself."
The intricacies of the matchup proved irrelevant once the second half began, when
Hoop Dreams just couldn't seem to miss. The filmmakers transformed their gameplan from a small story of two kids playing basketball to the epic unfolding of ordinary lives, encompassing race, poverty, family, friendship, youth, capitalism, and even — it's not overstating things — the American dream.
At that point, the
Gummo players stood little chance. As if facing Arthur Agee's infectious smile and Willam Gates' irrepressible kindheartedness weren't enough of a challenge, they now had to account for Arthur's mom graduating from nursing school; Arthur's dad getting high, separating from the family, getting arrested, finding God, returning to the family, and still draining threes over his grown son with confidence ("You want to see it rain? ... Let it rain."); William serving as his brother's one link to the glory of his youth; and on and on.
When the Arthur Agee's Marshall team triumphed in exhilarating and unlikely fashion over national powerhouse King High School, some observers wondered whether
Hoop Dream was running up the score on
Gummo — perhaps still sore over a perceived Oscar snub twelve years ago.
"We can't concern ourselves with all that stuff," said Gates. "We leave that to you guys in the press. Write what you want."
Gummo fans, while pessimistic about the team's chance to enter the second chance bracket, remain hopeful that Bunny Boy will be named to the All-Tournament Team. Many analysts cite his inspired, impressionistic play as the team's strongest asset throughout the game. Some go further and accuse Korine of underutilizing him.
"Meh," said Korine.
He refused further comment.
(
Reporting by pixote.)