A scorching summer in Brooklyn marks the annual street basketball
season and all eyes are on the quarter's revered basketball team,
Kenny's Kings. More of a family than a team, its star is Ed 'Booger'
Smith, who has been kicked out of home and taken in by coach Kenny
Jones who trains the team and finances it through his day job
in a liquor store. The coach is desperate to keep Booger out
of trouble and on course for a college scholarship, but Booger
is a "pathological liar" heading towards a criminal
record and Kenny's task in hand is more than just to win this
year's championships.
It's impossible not to be reminded of Hoop Dreams while watching
Danielle Gardner's documentary, but Soul in the Hole is raw and
unsanitised, refusing to clean up its soundtrack (supplied by
the likes of Wu-Tang Clan and Brand Nubian) or its characters:
"The rule says you cannot curse" one ref warns Kenny,
with little chance of seeing it upheld. Glass is swept off the
courts and nets are taped to hoops before games begin; off court
there are street water-fights, barbecues and, predictably, drugs.
The downside is that the result is often incoherent and - certainly
to those unused to Brooklyn accents - unintelligible. And while
Gardner's documentary has plenty of drama and vitality, it lacks
dramatic tension, failing to get really close to its subjects.
Not even Booger's team mates care what happens to him, so why
should we? The real star of Soul in the Hole is coach Kenny who,
beneath all the Brooklyn swagger and explosive bravado is one
of those rare local heroes who rarely receive the glory.
Reviewed by Monika Maurer
See what other kamera.co.uk readers thought about this film
