CINEMA: False Hoops

Making it to the NBA: it's the worst dream a boy can have. Even if he's one of the 50,000 or so high school phenoms in a year, his chances are only one in 2,000 that he will play NBA basketball. And once there, the kid is more likely to be a bench jockey, a Harthorne Wingo, than an idol-of-millions type like the Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas.

But people will dream the implausible dream, especially if they are agile black boys in a neighborhood ravaged by crime, and their only other options are fast-food chef and drug runner. Hoop Dreams, the...