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He Got Game | Year: 1998 Classification: Drama Country: USA Directed: - Spike Lee Actors/Actresses: - Jennifer Esposito - Milla Jovovich - Rosario Dawson - Denzel washington - Ray Allen Moving father / son story set to basketball Spike Lee's film contribution of 1998 marks his greatest graduation as a filmmaker since "Malcolm X". "He Got Game" documents the story of Jesus Shuttlesworth, the top high school basketball player in the U.S. who is receiving incentives one way or the other, to attend someone's university. Jesus' father Jake - in prison for accidentally killing his mother - is offered an early parole in exchange for Jesus' enrollment at the governor's alma mater. Jake has one week to convince his son, who wants nothing to do with him. This film is really not about basketball, it is instead, a tale of a father seeking the forgiveness A moving story about basketball and redemption Spike Lee has always been able to take a film based in everyday reality and bring out the spirit of a poet. This was released in 1998 after a slump in quality over Spike's catalogue since his masterpiece "Malcolm X", and it is an excellent return-to-form, giving us yet another classic story set against the projects in Brooklyn. The story centers around Jesus Shuttlesworth, a high school basketball player and the nation's top prospect, as he prepares to make the most important decision of his life: which college basketball scholarship to accept. The young man's father Jake, played with excellent conviction by Denzel Washington, is currently imprisoned for the murder of his wife. The state governor makes him an offer: he will release him for one week so he can try and convince his son to enroll at the governor's alma mater, and if he is successful he will reduce Jake's sentence. Times have been rough for young Jesus since his mother's death and his father's imprisonment, after an unhappy stay with some relatives, Jesus now lives on his own in an apartment with his younger sister Mary. He naturally bears a lot of resentment toward his father, who, although he taught him how to play ball, was a stubborn and abusive man while raising Jesus. When he sees Jake has been released, he wants nothing to do with him, and the majority of the movie is spent examining their relationship, as Jake attempts to reconcile with his son, and maybe develop an understanding of each other. Spike deals with their relationship on many different levels, as he allows both of them to reveal their good traits and their faults. Jesus must try and stay level-headed as he deals with the barrage of recruitment offers that are thrown in his face, the constant nagging question of "Have you decided?", his deceitful and unfaithful girlfriend, and the wave of bad memories that his father's return is bringing back to him. At the same time, Jake faces his own bleak prospects, as he is forced to stay in a seedy motel, where he stays next door to a hooker and must listen to her be assaulted and sodomized by her pimp at night. He must constantly be on call and check in with two smarmy detectives who have been assigned to keep him on lock-down. There is an enormous amount of pressure on both father and son, and the way they interact and relate plays a lot off of those key elements. There are many layers to the story, looking at the thick and fast world of professional sports recruiting as well as the way the media tends to create unwilling heroes out of kids who come out of the projects and into the limelight, but most of this film's greatness rests solely in Washington's excellent performance as he attempts to redeem his heart and soul and, hopefully, heal his relationship with his only son in the process. Ray Allen, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, makes a good acting debut delivering his lines honestly and earnestly, and Rosario Dawson, who plays his girlfriend Lala, is n Ray Allen who has the lead:great b-ball-player but bad actor This movie probably could've been at least a little good if SPIKE LEE hadn't casted the NBA-player RAY ALLEN, he joins Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O'Neal Not a very moving story mainly becouse RAY ALLEN's and MILLA JOVOVIC's horrible acting. If you thought that rappers were bad actors, they are nothing against b-ball players. Any SPIKE LEE-movie is better than this one so skip it. Buy He Got Game at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on He Got Game Search with the Priority Search Engine on He Got Game This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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