Will he become a star or will he crash and burn? New York-based directors Josh and Benny Safdie’s latest documentary Lenny Cooke, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, is a fascinating take on the American dream that sees basketball hopeful Cooke battling to become top dog alongside future NBA stars Carmello Anthony and LeBron James. In 2001 producer Adam Shopkorn happened upon the film’s eponymous star, a Brooklyn-born prodigy with a considerable following even while at high school. Shopkorn began to follow him with a camera, sensing massive potential from the growing phenomenon around him. But Cooke never reached the heights he seemed destined for, leading Shopkorn to return to the story ten years on and enlist the Safdie brothers, whose work includes The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Go Get Some Rosemary, to complete the project. “There was an overriding mystery to Lenny as a person,” says Benny. “He wasn’t like everyone else around him—he was a star; he stood out.” Pieced together from over 50 hours of archival footage and nearly 150 hours shot by the brothers, the film is a modern parable—a mash-up of Hoop Dreams and The Blind Side. “Lenny is a better person today,” Benny adds of his subject. “After the fall from the spotlight he definitely matured into a fuller human being. Who knows what would have happened had he gotten that million-dollar contract, but I think it is safe to say that his soul is more pure.”