LENNY COOKE

Lenny Cooke is a Hoop Dreams-esque, voyeuristic documentary that comments on the futility of the post-modern American Dream and the heightened culture of excess and fame, with a personal bent to it.

Hoop Dreams is less of a narrative and more of an amalgamation of fragmented realities, broken dreams, juxtaposed against the modern, harsher realities and the consequences of the heightened excess of culture impacting the titular protagonist, Lenny Cooke.

Lenny Cooke highlights the exploitation of the NBA alongside the wider social context of the early 2000s. The NBA's flawed "prep-to-pro rule" allowed high school players to enter the NBA Draft, accumulating elite talent and success stories of NBA stars.

However, this flawed rule was exploitative with its commodification of players as expendable assets, the inability of the players to adjust to the pro leagues, a lack of support systems, and, by and large, an exploitative system with the doc likening it to a form of slavery.

Lenny Cooke feels moving in its juxtaposition of Cooke's rise in the early 2000s and a sobering reflection a decade later. The doc plays with its voyeuristic look at Cooke's career with his flashy wealth, capital, and cultural excess.

It captures the post-American Dream mood of the early 2000s with flashy material wealth, faux fame, and the encroaching lifestyle sold to Americans through corporate means. After all, Cribs was one of the biggest reality TV shows that exemplified this mood.

However, the post-American dream would later lead to the modern-day housing crisis, the 2008 financial crisis that exposed the lies built on high-risk infrastructure, hollow corporate fantasy, and an exploitative system preying on the middle class.

In a way, Lenny Cooke and his contemporaries came off this socio-political context and the pursuit of wealth and excess on risky infrastructure and a lack of support systems, and guidance. In that way, it's a sobering doc.

Technically, Lenny Cooke is sturdy. The direction exemplifies a somber mood and is potent enough in its juxtaposition of Lenny's playing days and a decade later. The visuals employ a sense of objectivity to the subject matter.

The sombre docudrama conveys regret, loss, and the pain of broken dreams through the subject matter(Lenny Cooke) and his friends and family. The methodical editing bridges time periods, original footage, juxtaposition, and smash cuts for a grounded appeal.

The minimal score brings melancholy, wistfulness, and a sense of loss and regret. The soundscape consists of ambient sounds, ambience, and purposeful realism. The production design conveys the diversity of regional classes, realism, and provides a sense of tangibility.

Overall, Lenny Cooke is a fascinating doc that combines the thematic and literal interests of the Safdie brothers while providing a peek into the post-American Dream age of the 2000s and its casualties. It's a neat fit into the Safdie bros canon.

Writing: 8/10

Direction: 7/10

Cinematography: 7/10

Acting: 8/10

Editing: 8/10

Sound: 7/10

Score: 6/10

Prod Design: 9/10

Casting: 6/10

Effects: 5/10

Overall Score: 7.1/10