Sunday, November 30, 2014

Requiem For The Big East Asks Some Great Questions

And 30 for 30 puts out another really high quality sports documentary.
Requiem for the Big East is not like other 30 for 30s. This is the full life story of an entire college basketball conference. It spans more than three decades and argues the merits and plunders of an entire business model over that span. But, as is usually the case with a film like this, the most interesting pieces are those focusing on individual coaches, owners, and teams. It's the human element that has kept documentary filmmaking... and filmmaking in general... an institution. 
This movie manages to take a very big subject and scale it down when necessary to keep the viewer interested and informed in a practical way. It asks as clearly as it can, how something so obviously marketable like The Big East could falter after so many successes and analyzes the people responsible for its meteoric rise and dreadfully slow demise. And in the end we're left with Ezra Edelman's surprisingly concise interpretation of some otherwise very foggy events.
If you've ever enjoyed a 30 for 30, this is a good one now streaming on Netflix.

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