Winning Time Review: Beautiful Visuals of a Chaotic Story
The HBO series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty dropped it’s first episode on March 6. This Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht created series follows the Showtime era of the the Los Angeles Lakers. An era for the Lakers when they played a unique and interesting style of basketball. The series is based on a book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman.
Narrations and the Visuals
The series tells an important an important era in basketball’s history through some beautiful narrations, editing. Although the visuals are pleasing, it still does not quite hit the mark. It mainly focuses on Dr. Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson.
The two players, sit with each other as they never spent much time together. Buss’s story of getting into the NBA really comes through in the sports drama. While switching between stock footage and images, brief animations that make it come alive. Although throughout the series, there are various jump cuts that sometimes seem almost unnecessary.
Chaotic Storytelling and the Cast
The first episode opens with the time after Magic Johnson gets the news that he tested positive for HIV. Later, we are taken back in time to 1979, to a financially struggling Buss, trying to but the team and to fix his relationship with Jerry West.
The casting for the series could not have been better. Actors John C. Reilly and Quincy Isaiah who play Buss and Johnson respectively, certainly made the characters really captivating. They portray the basketball legends with great depth which allows the viewers to look at Buss and Johnson more than basketball players. The series talks about almost everything that occurred during that era. However, it does so in a chaotic manner.