Cavs Board

Over the weekend, Lebron James, and 3 of his 4 former Saint Vincent - Saint Mary teammates were in attendance for the Toronto Film Festival for a new documentary, one that followed their development as basketball players and people while in high school. 

The documentary was filmed by Kristopher Belman, an Akron native.  Contrary to what most would assume, Lebron James isn’t the focus of the film.  The film covers all the starters as they grew together, first in grade school, AAU ball, and ultimately ending with their triumphs winning a state title in 2003.

Clint O’ Connor, the movie critic for the Plains Dealer had a write up about the film.  Here’s some of what he had to say:

LeBron James finally found one of the few things he can’t conquer: tears. Welled-up with watery-eyed emotion, James tried to push them back with thumb and forefinger, but they just kept coming. He wasn’t alone. There was a lot of crying and hugging when the lights came up at Saturday’s world premiere of “More Than a Game.”

“This is the first time I’ve cried, in basketball or anything, since we lost that national championship game in eighth grade,” said James after the screening. “This is authentic.”

The film charts the evolution of James, “Little Dru” Joyce, Romeo Travis, Willie McGee, and Sian Cotton, and their incredible run at “St. V” that culminated in a national title in 2003. Four of the five (Cotton couldn’t make it) sat together in the Ryerson Theatre, teasing each other, laughing, and cheering like ninth-graders. They were joined by a large Ohio contingent of friends, former coaches, and family.

“It was flat-out awesome,” said James’ mother Gloria, in her instant thumbs-up review of the film. “Of course, I cried.”

First-time director Belman, a graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School, started “More Than a Game” as a project for a film class at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Beginning in 2002, he was granted carte blanche access to the team.

Belman said he was able to earn the trust of the players and “Coach Dru” Joyce (Little Dru’s dad) largely because, as a one-man crew, he was so unobtrusive. Most of them didn’t even know his name. “I’d be surprised if any of them have me on their cell phones today as anything but ‘cameraman,’ ” said Belman laughing.

He layered in grainy home videos, old photos, and new interviews, while awaiting the blessing of James to complete the project. The Cavs forward may have been skeptical of the word “documentary,” having weathered a lawsuit in 2005 over a supposed life-story agreement. (The jury agreed with James.)

Obviously, I didn’t see it, so I don’t have much to add, but I have seen a couple of basketball related documentaries that were very much worth seeing.  First was “Heart of the Game”, a documentary which couldn’t have even been scripted to play out as beautifully as it did.  It followed the trials of a girls’ high school basketball team in Seattle, as it dealt with teen pregnancy, sexual abuse, fighting the State’s Athletic governing body, and ultimately culminated with an incredible ending.

The other film “Second Chance Season” was out here in LA, when a filmmaker told the story of Nick Young’s upbringing, his family, his brother’s murder and capped the story off when Nick was selected by the Washington Wizards in the NBA draft.  Jordan Farmar and Josh Shipp both got a lot of run in the movie as they played for rival high schools and later colleges. 

I don’t know how easy either are to find since they were in limited theaters out here, but I’ve definitely seen “Heart of the Game” in blockbuster and on Netflix, and that may be one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen, regardless of subject matter.