Classic Movie Review: Lenny Cooke (2013)

Lenny Cooke (2013)

Directed by: Joshua & Benny Safdie.

 

I have been meaning to see the two first Safdie brother’s films – Lenny Cooke and Daddy Longlegs – since I loved their third film, Heaven Knows What, and particularly since I was head over heels for Good Time back in 2017. But I’m glad I waited a little bit to catch up with them. Lenny Cooke – their only feature documentary – makes sense in the wake of Uncut Gems. Part of it is the basketball connection – Uncut Gems features Kevin Garnett (who is mentioned, but not seen here) – so it is clear the brothers have a love of basketball, but also see it clear eyed – they don’t romanticize the game, and see it clearly as a moneymaking venture, for the players, and everyone else around it. But it’s also clear that the Safdie have a love for these types of characters – the characters who charge straight through something, even when all signs are telling them to hold up.

 

Lenny Cooke was once the top rated high school basketball player in America – ahead of future stars like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. And yet, Cooke never made it to the NBA at all, let alone become a star. He wasn’t even drafted. Lenny Cooke, the documentary, is made up of two parts. The first half of the movie is footage that the Safdie have accumulated from other sources – from interviews with Cooke when we were on top of the world, a guaranteed star. The second half of the film is shot years later – when his basketball career has fizzled out, he is now turning 30, he has gained some weight, and while he puts on a happy face, he is clearly a man with regrets. He was a year older than LeBron – who of course went 1^st overall in the draft, and has become one of the best players the game has ever seen. Cooke made the same decision as LeBron – to bypass college, and go straight into the draft. And then – for a variety of reasons (perhaps because he aged out of high school basketball, and hadn’t player organized ball in 18 months) isn’t drafted. There is a moment, a little earlier, where a scout says of Cooke that he’s at a crossroads – one way, he is a star player in the NBA, the other he becomes a New York playground legend, and nothing more.

 

I doubt the Safdies would have much interest in Cooke had he gone down the first path – and become a star. The New York brothers probably really did know of Cooke, and decide to look into what happened to the legend. They find him in Virginia with his family – the place we saw him in his previous life saying he’d never return to – now living his life. He is outwardly happy – he still has the big personality we saw in the past. But he has been humbled, he has been hurt. And there are times when that comes out – like a scene late in the film when he visits his old New York friends, and complains that they have basically abandoned him.

 

When you watch Lenny Cooke, you know where this is going – you know he’s not going to become a star, since we don’t know his name. Watching those early scenes then have an air of sadness to them. We see Cooke, who has the big personality and confidence, and yet we also see how all that makes him make one mistake after another after another. It’s one thing to have talent – but after only doing showcases for a while, what did he really expect? And yet, it’s also a sad story, because we see all these people pumping his tires, convincing him of things that are unrealistic. And when you’re a kid – 18 years old, from a poor neighborhood, you want to believe what they say.

 

All of the Safdie brother’s films are about self-destructive people in a way – ones who cannot help themselves, and keep following their path down to its end point, even once it becomes clear they need to pull back. Cooke is perhaps the saddest of these characters – in part, of course, because he’s real. But part because he’s perhaps the one who we shouldn’t have suspected to know better – he’s a stupid kid, who does stupid things – and cannot see the end coming. Lenny Cooke is a very good, very sad documentary. Any star athlete in their teens should see it – as a warning of things to come. Most of them will end up like Cooke, not LeBron.