Last week in Hollywood, Kobe Bryant came together with celebrities like Andy Garcia, designers like Christian Loubituon and NBA greats like Rick Fox for an early look at Kobe Bryant's Muse, a documentary focused on the life of the future NBA Hall of Famer. With Kobe being no stranger to controversy, the documentary explores some of his more personal moments as well as those that have been plastered over the news and helped make him a household name.
At the premier, director Gotham Chopra (son of Deepak Chopra) and Bryant held a Q&A that gave some insight into the making of the film. From the long hours of recording to being a part of the Kobe experience, the documenting and creating of the product seemed to have it's own set of rules that you would only expect from someone that works as hard as Kobe.
Broken into chapters, the documentary explores the life of Kobe Bryant through several different
lenses. From his struggles with trying to find a place in the world of the NBA, to pushing himself to be better, the film provides only glimpses into life.
And this is where the challenges with the documentary develop. As a public figure, the life of Kobe Bryant has been broadcast across television screens for all to see. Or has it? At first glance, it would appear that we know everything about the superstar athlete. But, after watching the documentary, I am not as sure. Publicly, we know the sacrifices and commitment that Kobe has for basketball, but how does that translates to his personal life remains a mystery.
On the sport side, the film covers a lot of what we already know. The championships, the players he took to the court with, the Three-Peat, the five rings, all stuff any reasonable fan of Kobe's could tell you about. It is the moments between these high points that seem to be missing. Instead of cohesion, the chapters seem to provide rough jump cuts, leaping from topic to topic to tell a story that we know already.
Is the film bad? No. Could it be better? Yes. With the name "Kobe Bryant's Muse," we are led to believe that we would see more of his inspiration and what drove him to be so dedicated to the sport and his family. Instead, we learned more of what we already know, that Kobe is a strategic, dedicated, talented and incredibly passionate player. What we wanted was to know the person behind all those buzzwords.
"Kobe Bryant's Muse" is available now on Showtime Anytime and On Demand through the end of the year, and will air on Showtime over the next few weeks."
-- Read more by Jacques Slade on Kustoo.com and follow him on Twitter @kustoo.
Here are two preview clips that were released last year: