From detection to fame, Amateur is a behind-the-scenes film about basketball and more specifically about money in sport that guides the course and corrupts human relationships. Netflix signs a very pleasant film to follow on a sport decidedly very cinematic.
A popular sport but a new subject
A movie about basketball? It is not the first, nor the last! From the comedy Space Jam with Michael Jordan to the drama Basketball Diaries with Leonardo DiCaprio, this sport is very popular with filmmakers and seems to be the breeding ground for staging beautiful stories. Amateur, available on Netflix since the beginning of April, does not focus so much on the game itself but rather on the backstage negotiations and the commodification of athletes (here a basketball player).The film focuses on the young Terron Forte (Michael Rainey Jr), a basketball player barely 14 years old, who, following a detection, will integrate a school campus, but especially the Liberty team, a team of high school students not really enthusiastic about the idea of seeing him arrive. His talent will eventually make the difference on and off the field, but this early rise will also give him the opportunity to refine his vision about his sport and his amateur status.
The film is called Amateur because the whole subject of the film revolves around the amateur status of the young basketball player. Before being able to access the university championship and then the NBA, young prospects make their ranges and obtain this status. A subject that is not treated much in the seventh art, and yet, it is rich in terms of stakes. Thousands of kids embark on this adventure but few are called to play the leading roles in the future. It is also necessary to know how to conjugate with his entourage which is not necessarily the healthiest, the celebrity making appear his share of vultures. Several characters in the film do not seem to be driven by good intentions for their protégé.
The player as a market value
Vince (Brian White II), Terron's father, is one of those people. Very protective with his son, his behavior intrigues throughout the film since he gives the impression of wanting to have a total grip on the career of his offspring without taking into consideration the wishes of the latter. He tries to steer him towards a career as a scorer rather than a leader. The same goes for his coach Gaines (Josh Charles). Terron belongs to his coach but also to the sponsors. With the signing of this contract, the young basketball player no longer has his own free will because his choices are guided by his coach, and his life path by sponsors. It's all about image and money.
Amateur also focuses on the sacrifices that an athlete must make to try a career in his sport. Here, basketball definitely takes precedence over the studies of the character and more particularly on the enrichment of his mind: basketball players are pampered to succeed in class without the adequate intellectual baggage. Witness the scene where basketball players take an online exam with invigilators authorized to give them anti-dry.
The film does well on these subjects, but misses the boat a little when it comes to staging basketball. The sequence of the scenes can sometimes raise certain questions about Terron's journey within his team. At first, he struggled for his first match before revealing himself in the next. Everything happens a bit fast. Same thing when he has to apply match strategies involving numbers: he who suffers from a disease that makes him unable to understand them nevertheless quickly begins to perform. For a film that wants to be realistic, these scenes can make it lose a little credibility. Nevertheless, Amateur remains a beautiful work, especially for a first realization (Ryan Koo directs here his first film). As for the cast, it is impeccable, and Michael Rainey Jr. has a bright future.
In the absence of a three-point shot, Netflix converts a beautiful free throw with Amateur, a very nice film about the other side of basketball. However, the film is narrowly lacking in some scenes.
