Kobe: Doin' Work

In the quest to finish clearing off all the old TV off our DVR, we decided to watch ESPN's special from a few weeks ago about Kobe Bryant titled Kobe: Doin' Work.

This premise behind the show was that Spike Lee was directing a documentary about Kobe Bryant. For the film, they taped one game - Lakers vs Spurs - from April of 2008 using something like 30 cameras, all aimed at Kobe throughout the game. He was mic'd as well and they managed to get Phil to allow cameras pre-game, halftime, and post-game in the locker room for some surprising access. They also had Kobe provide a running commentary track over the game in January of '09 before polishing it off for commmercial-free airing on ESPN a few weeks ago.

The movie is well-shot, well-edited, and generally well-done.

It's fascinating to me as a basketball fan to hear him break down the action on [and a little bit off] the court - hearing him explain why they're calling certain plays, why he does certain things on the floor like his seemingly OCDish wiping of his hands (he's trying to keep them wet! Who knew?)

It's not your traditional type of documentary. You're not going to gain some huge inside into Kobe Bryant the person. However, if you're a basketball fan, you might gaint a little bit of insight to Kobe Bryant the player and you may see a side of the game you've never quite seen before.

I enjoyed it... and I think other basketball fans would enjoy it as well.