Lenny cooke, a documentary from directors benny and joshua safdie and an official selection at both the 20 tribeca and venice film festivals, unearths plenty about the. We highly encourage readers to give the documentary a watch as it shows cookes life through the summer prior to his senior year as well as his life following his decision to. For basketball fans of a certain age, the trailer for lenny cooke was a jolt. Home trending history get youtube premium get youtube tv best of youtube music sports gaming movies tv shows news live. But instead, this onetime topranked pro basketball prospect ended up benched in the game of life, the victim of his own naivete and the predatory.
Bulls star joakim noah joins film about fallen basketball. In 2001, a young new yorker named lenny cooke was the countrys topranked high school basketball player. Based on consultation with several nba scouts, heres the skinny on his game. With lenny cooke, tom konchalski, lebron james, carmelo anthony. Cooke speaks on his new documentary titled the lenny cooke film, debuting it at the tribeca film festival, being once ranked higher than. A cocky kids dream crumbles in sobering lenny cooke. Lenny cooke, subject of the film lenny cooke poses at the tribeca film festival 20 portrait studio on april 20, 20 in new york city. Check out this behind the scenes look at bad boys for life read more. Cooke is the subject of the 20 documentary lenny cooke which documents his athletic rise, fall, and subsequent life after basketball. Hs hoops legend lenny cooke discusses career, mistakes. He eventually came into contact with some crummy sports agent who promised him money upfront along with a guarantee that hell be drafted reasonably high if he chose to enter the draft out of high school which by the way is a story in of itself. The story of lenny cooke has been told on many occasions and on many outlets including in documentary form which was released years back and can still be seen today. Yet after declaring himself eligible for the 2002 nba draft, cooke, shockingly, ended up going undrafted, and became a journeyman playing in littleknown. In 2001, lenny cooke was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country, ranked above future greats lebron james, amare stoudemire, and carmelo anthony.
Lenny cooke was the numberone ranked high school basketball player in america, but his inevitable fall from grace will forever be remembered. Lenny cooke interview tribeca film festival youtube. Lenny cooke and the problem with best documentaries. In this quintessentially american documentary, filmmaking brothers joshua and benny safdie track the unfulfilled destiny of a man for whom superstardom was. By frank ombres on december 6, 20 get that money, baby, an offcamera pal hollers to a young lenny cooke during a pit stop on a lengthy road trip. Find out where lenny cooke is streaming, if lenny cooke is on netflix, and get news and updates, on decider. The film, made by the safdie brothers, was entered in. He transferred to nvot in 2001 and it turned into the most interesting and exciting year of basketball in my life and. Lenny however had been advised by his legal guardian for awhile but said screw you to her. The question of why cookes career never materialized hangs over the movie, but is never answered. In this quintessentially american documentary, filmmaking brothers joshua and benny safdie track the unfulfilled destiny of a man for whom superstardom was only just. He was not drafted and ended up playing for lesser known leagues around the world. A decade later, lenny has never played a minute in the nba.
After a screening in toronto, several raptors said there was much to be learned from cookes story. In 2001, lenny cooke was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country, ranked above future greats lebron james, amare stoudemire and carmelo anthony. Lenny cooke official trailer 1 20 documentary hd professional sports is known as a true meritocracy, a field in which the cream really. The name lenny cooke has become part myth, part bogeyman and part warning to anyone that thinks talent, and talent alone, gets you to the. The new yorkbased directors follow the basketball hopeful lenny cooke as he battles to become top dog alongside future nba stars carmelo. Shopkorn turned down a request to follow lebron james, though james did pass shopkorns viewfinder on more than one occasion. In 2001, lenny cooke was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country, ranked above future greats lebron james, amare stoudemire and carmelo. Slam brings you an exhaustive list of every basketball movie and documentary we can think of to help you through this crazy time.
The documentary style filmmaking makes it very easy to follow and gives a unique perspective. Lenny cooke documentary follows basketball hopefuls. The movie lenny cooke follows the number one high school basketball player who was destined to go to the nba. Lenny cooke has yet to discover what or who he is supposed to be since it became obvious years ago that he would not fulfill his once presumed destiny and become an n. Aratons visit to cooke and his family in virginia is, in turn, featured in the movie. Lenny cooke is grateful to debbie bortner, a white lady, the mother of a high school teammate, who took him into her home when he was a kid, who encouraged him to work hard and believe in himself. Lenny cooke was a high school phenom and playground basketball legend. Lenny cooke, from startobe to one who never was the. A title card at the beginning of the film indicates that cooke, despite his huge highschool hype. Lenny cooke official trailer 1 20 documentary hd youtube. The uploader has not made this video available in your country. Lenny cooke official trailer 1 20 documentary hd professional sports is known as a true meritocracy, a field in which the cream really does rise to the top, as theres simply too much money. A once topranked highschool basketball star learns a tough lesson when he decides to skip college. A clip from lenny cooke by josh and benny safdie youtube.
When cooke enters the draft and isnt chosen at all, much less in the first round, we see a long line of names being announced but get no shot of lennys reaction. Hes in a similar position to deshawn stevenson, who was drafted by the utah jazz late in the first round of 2000. Lenny cookes one glaring hole is the narrative gap between its subjects promising younger years and current reality. It shares with their fiction work a ragged visual sensibility, a bittersweet worldview, and a lowkey, momenttomoment approach to drama. Lenny cooke movie documentary full movie its easy to be responsible if you responsible all the time, its difficult when you pick and choose the times you want to be responsible.
He transferred to nvot in 2001 and it turned into the most. Professional sports are known as a true meritocracy, a field in which the cream really does rise to the top, as theres simply too much money at stake to operate in any other fashion. The scene is one of many poignant moments in josh and ben safdies documentary lenny cooke. Joakim noah is teaming up with lenny cooke once again, albeit in very different circumstances. However, lenny cooke is less of an outlier than it initially seems.
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