I am sitting here watching the very engaging 2008 documenatary kicking It on ESPN and feeling very enlightened on the Homelessness issue. The movie follows six homeless men from around the world as they gear up for the 4th annual Homeless World Cup soccer tournament in Cape Town South Africa. I recommend you go here to learn more about the movie and keep an eye on ESPN2 because I am sure they will be airing it again.

Anyways, while watching Kicking It, I was reminded of a trailer I had seen earlier in the day for a film called The Soloist. This film stars Robert Downey Jr. as real life L.A. Times Journalist Steve Lopez who discovers a left behind homeless musical genius named Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx. And while this film clearly takes a more Hollywood approach to the issue (read across from Resurrecting the Champ, August Rush, and Reign Over Me), it clearly hits all the right notes. Take for example two excellent actors, Jamie Foxx with a Miles David haircut circa Amandla era, and a running soundtrack of Bach Cello Prelude in Gm. And seeing as Foxx already won an Oscar in a musical role for his work in Ray, I don’t think that Oscar buzz for this movie is out of the question.

The Soloist, which will debut November 21st, is conceived from Steve Lopez’s original articles, written by Susannah Grant (28 Days and Erin Brockovich), and directed by Atonement’s Joe Wright.

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“Play this film. And here’s a note to anyone looking to purchase a doc to distribute and whatnot: Buy this film. I don’t work for a studio, thus I’m not keen on all the politics involved, but I guarantee if this doc was picked up by, say, HBO, it would change lives immediately.”

While the review was more than convincing, I never thought that I or any other non festival attendee would ever get the chance to see this doc about director Kurt Kuenne paying a video homage to his murdered friend Andrew Bagby. Without a film crew, Kuenne interviews friends and family of the deceased in order to immortalize him for his infant son, all while details of his mysterious death are revealed. That all I can give away, as further details reveal shocking truths that apparently, and Im going off of reviews here, make this film the emotional roller coaster that it is. If you want to know more, you will have to watch MSNBC this fall, as the cable news channel has just purchased the film. In the meantime, check out the film’s website here, which features a trailer and more information on the story.

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I had mentioned before how ESPN is going full force into the feature film game, one of the only markets they have yet to conquer. This has included both an upcomming Spike Lee doc on Kobe Bryant and involvement in the Tribeca Film Festival. The trend continues this weekend when you can see the national premiere of director Richard Linklater’s “Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach” on ESPN’s airwaves. The film follows the Texas Longhorn baseball team during the 06-07 season and especially their famed coach Augie Garrido. Linklater, widely known for his direction of films like “A Scanner Darkly” and “Dazed and Confused”, is no slouch in baseball either, having directed Billy Bob Thornton in the “Bad News Bears” remake. IMDB lists the film as:

“An intimate look inside the world of University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history in any sport. He is the winner of five National Championships (3 at Cal State Fullerton and 2 at UT) and the only coach to win National Championships in four different decades and at two different schools. The film examines this remarkable coach’s career and unique approach to teaching the game with unprecedented access to his team meetings, practices, and conversations with players during games. “

“Inning by Inning” will be shown on ESPN2 (The Duece!) and ESPN2 HD!!!!!!!! on Sunday, June 15.
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ESPN Films has produced such unmemorable made for TV movies as the Bobby Knight biopic “A Season on the Brink”, Pete Roses’ “Hustle”, and Texas A&M football flick “The Junction Boys”. These moves obviously required very little effort and featured absolutely no talent. Wait, I take that back. “Home Improvement’s” Zachary Ty Bryan (AKA Brad) starred in the Army football scandal movie “Code Breakers”.

I said at least not until now because ESPN has already signed up with Robert Redford to produce a Jackie Robinson biopic, a revolutionary move I have already talked about as breaking the baseball film color barrier. ESPN has also joined forces with indie cinema in creating the 2nd annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, with all eleven featured films appearing in New York back to back Sunday, April 27 and Saturday, May 3. ESPN Classic (channel 9,876 on most home sets) will also be airing festival coverage and related sports movies on May 15. But ESPN’s best move yet is teaming up with Spike Lee to produce a new documentary on Kobe Bryant.

Inspired by “Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait” which followed the French soccer star during every second of a game, Lee wanted to do something similar with Kobe. On the second to last game of this season, Lee positioned 18 cameras around the Staples Center following the Laker’s star pre, during, and post-game.

So finally ESPN secured some talent in Lee and Redford, and put some effort into this film festival thing. And while I am by no means rooting for ESPN to monopolize anything else, I am excited about better sports films and the prospect of watching them for free through my cable service. The Spike Lee Kobe joint will be aired sometime next year on either ESPN or its sister station ABC. That is going to look great in HD.

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