Review: A Kid from Coney Island
Oftentimes when documentaries are made about troubled, talented athletes who failed to reach their potential, they are named something to the effect of, “The Rise and Fall of (insert athlete here)”. Many people might assume that Stephon Marbury’s story falls under the same category, but while watching this documentary, that would be a poor classification of his life. A Kid from Coney Island is not the rise and fall of Stephon Marbury, but rather, his journey.
For most biographical documentaries, there has to be a focus on what drove the star of the film to pursue their success. When presenting Marbury’s journey, the filmmakers made an excellent decision to focus on the two pillars of Marbury’s upbringing- his family and his city. The brilliance in this decision comes from having Marbury’s family members, people he grew up with, and people from the city who were around during his career speak for most of the film. In fact, when covering everything that happened from his birth to him leaving the NBA in 2010, Marbury doesn’t even speak in the film.
The interview process for the film is nothing too unusual. The film goes in chronological order of Marbury’s life and is split into different events. For example, when covering the day he was drafted, the film shows “Twenty Long Years”, this referring to Stephon finally being the one in his family to make the NBA, despite his brothers before him almost reaching the pros but failing to do so. As each category appears on the screen, the interviewees speak candidly about what was going on in Stephon’s life at the time. The filmmakers seem to allow them to speak freely about these events, rather than strictly using a questionnaire. This gave the film a much more relaxed feel.
Since it is told in chronological order, most of the interviews and commentary are from Marbury’s family members, while the others give quick anecdotes. The people he grew up with who are interviewed include former NBA players like Ray Allen, God Shammgod, and Chauncey Billups. Outside of basketball, the film also interviews rap legends Cam’ron and Fat Joe, who came up in New York around the same time Marbury’s buzz began around the city. The most interesting decision the filmmakers made in terms of their interviewees, was to include people Marbury was never really in contact with, but that all grew up in New York at the same time. This was a smart decision because their view of Marbury’s career is from a fan perspective, like many of us watching the film, but also while representing what Marbury meant for the city.
Outside of the interview process and selection of speakers, there’s nothing too extravagant or particularly interesting this film does from a technical standpoint. The clips used are standard home videos and highlights from his youth and NBA career, along with news clips reporting on Marbury’s trades and “questionable” times. The musical score is good enough, nothing dynamic. An issue that can be found with this film was including Cam’ron and Fat Joe as speakers, but not using any of their music, or any non-score music at all. It was made very clear during the film how hip-hop and basketball intersected in the 1990s. Particularly in New York with as much legendary music that was being released at that time, it’s strange none of it was used. A soundtrack isn’t a necessity in a documentary, but it does bring liveliness to the film, especially when the film itself includes two legends of hip-hop and spends time establishing that connection.
The technical aspects being average, however, doesn’t take anything away from A Kid from Coney Island being a great film. The main point of the film is to show how Stephon Marbury was able to still find his purpose and make his city and family proud, although his NBA career was far from ideal. The film succeeds in doing this by making its intentions clear and sticking to making the focus of Marbury’s journey being bigger than the NBA and even bigger than himself.
When Marbury finally appears in the film, the lighting of the film brightens and we finally see live footage (that wasn’t commentary). The footage is brighter when Marbury is talking about his life in China, matching his cheerful demeanor as he talks about finding peace after leaving the NBA. At the end of the film when Marbury is revisiting his old neighborhood and taking pictures with children, it’s on a bright and sunny day. The film’s score is bright as well and hopeful, matching Marbury’s discussion with a young boy. The young boy tells Marbury he wants to be an NBA player when he grows up. Marbury tells him he can be anything in the world, as long as he makes sure to take care of his family and his neighborhood. A lesson he learned through his journey.
