American born NBA players generally follow the same path from high school hoops through big time college ball and onto the NBA. But as you learn in ‘Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot,’ Dirk’s path to the Association began with handball. It was the sport of choice for his parents, both of whom were champion handball players. But their son, a young, gangly Dirk ultimately gravitated toward hoops. He caught the eye of former German international player Holger Geschwinder who saw the potential in Dirk’s raw talent. Geschwinder’s roots in international play and the relationships he formed with American players shaped his unique approach to Dirk’s training. Holger blended the jazzy, free flowing spirit of American hoops with applied science to create his unique approach to Dirk’s training regimen.
Though the title of this film implies a focus on the development of Dirk’s shot itself, you really only get a very general look at what goes into Dirk’s shooting motion. There are scenes of him working with Holger in the gym. And you even get a glimpse of Holger’s computer program. But there is not a lot of discussion around the real science of what makes Dirk such an accurate shooter. Instead, this film plays as more of a straightforward biopic. And that’s fine. I just was hoping to get a little more insight into the actual ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the methods used to build his shooting motion. Even as a casual NBA fan, I have long appreciated that Dirk defies convention as a big man, being able to shoot accurately from behind the arc as opposed to having to stay anchored under the basket. I would have enjoyed a deeper scientific explanation of what makes this method so successful.
Aside from Dirk’s upbringing and his work with Holger, the rest of the film covers his off court life and the story of his finding redemption against the Miami Heat in 2011 following the Mavericks’ loss to Miami in the finals in the 2006 season. Given how rosy the first half of the film is, I was surprised the filmmakers were able to include the bizarre drama involving Dirk’s engagement to Cristal Taylor. Even by NBA standards, though, this ‘scandal’ was relatively tame.
The bluray release of ‘Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot’ includes a fairly sparse collection of special features. Viewers are offered the opportunity to watch the trailer for the film or trailers for other films available from Magnolia. Then you get a brief, twelve minute interview with Dirk himself and deleted scenes. The deleted scenes feel like extraneous footage as opposed to compelling moments that were sacrificed in the name of keeping the narrative tight and the running time manageable. And the interview is Dirk’s general review of the experience of filming the doc. Not surprisingly, there is little of interest in the story of shooting the doc from Dirk’s perspective.
