Our Flick of the Week is Spike Lee’s powerful father-son drama “He Got Game,” which is being billed as Lee’s basketball movie. A major hoops fan, Lee certainly does sketch a world he knows well — the way that boys and men in the ‘hood chase golden hoop dreams. The story is about the courting of the leading high-school player in the nation, a certain Jesus Shuttlesworth (played convincingly in an impressive film debut by Ray Allen of the Milwaukee Bucks).
Everyone wants a piece of Jesus — coaches, girlfriends, agents and even dear old dad — and it’s obvious that Lee chose that name because he sees the commercialism of college basketball as profane.
Jesus’ father (Denzel Washington, masked by a lot of facial hair) has a special interest in steering his son to the right college. Imprisoned for manslaughter, Dad could have his sentence commuted in an instant if he arranges for Jesus to enroll in the governor’s alma mater, Big State University. This deal is communicated to him by his warden (Ned Beatty), and Dad handles it gingerly because the relationship between him and his son doesn’t allow for favors to be easily granted.
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Washington, who played junior varsity basketball in college, is convincing in the few scenes where he does handle a ball, although in interviews Lee has said that finding a ball player like Allen who could act was a greater challenge than finding an actor who could play hoops. “Denzel doesn’t have that many scenes playing,” Lee said. What ultimately recommends the film is the emotional connection between the two leads. Father-son relationships are typically highly charged on film, and “He Got Game” works well within that tradition. R. (star) (star) (star) 1/2
– LES MISERABLES. A serviceable treatment of the Victor Hugo novel and not the musical that has taken the world by storm. Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush (the tortured pianist in “Shine”) are a perfectly cast pair in the duel between a man of passion and a man of rules. PG-13. (star) (star) (star)
– DEJA VU. Writer-director Henry Jaglom’s latest rumination on the vagaries of love follows a group of refreshingly adult characters who gradually recognize when romantic life is as good as it gets. The absence of juvenile sex and comedy scenes is one of the major selling points of this gentle work. R. (star) (star) (star)
– DANCER, TEXAS POP. 81. A handful of college-age male friends in a pit stop of a town try to make the case that their home base is worthy of being included on a road map of the state. We listen to each explore his dreams and decide whether to leave or stay. The patterns of behavior are predictable. PG. (star) (star) 1/2
– DON’T LOOK BACK. They’ve digitally remastered the audio track of this granddaddy of all pop music documentaries, D.A. Pennebaker’s visual record of Bob Dylan’s 1967 performance (along with Joan Baez and others) in San Francisco. Along with the filmmaker, we mostly stare at the side of Dylan’s hirsute head and wonder if even he realizes the enormity of the social revolution that he is so much a part of. No MPAA rating. (star) (star) (star) 1/2
– = New this week