Story of Nike as a basketball shoe company

AIR

English (Amazon Prime)

Director: Ben Affleck

Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis

Rating: 4.5/5

Agreat shoe can turn into a culture-defining aesthetic, but a revolutionary shoe worn by a gravity-defying athlete can change the course of human history.

‘Air’, written by Alex Convery and directed by Ben Affleck, observes this unparalleled phenomenon with depth and humour as it dives into the genesis of Michael Jordan’s association with Nike.

Those familiar with the basketball legend and the sneaker culture ‘His Airness’ helped perpetuate will find the details of the film riveting since Nike basketball talent scout Sonny Vaccaro’s story has been long forgotten.

Transcendentalism is an oft-visited concept in the film, as it should it be for it involves Jordan, but the tale, written mostly through Vaccaro’s (Matt Damon) perspective, speaks of Nike’s precarious position as a basketball shoe company.

It is just as engaging to watch Phil Knight, played by Ben Affleck, try and maintain a spearhead attitude in the face of Nike’s squandering basketball division. It is the coming together of pseudo-hippie and businessman Knight and the big American dreamer Vaccaro that makes the story special.

And then there’s Viola Davis, who plays Jordan’s mother (Deloris). If the movie did have any failings at all, and it does for those in the business of nitpicking, she makes up for it. Few, if any, can blend a cold-hearted businesswoman and a protective mother as well as Viola does. And whoever wrote the speech Damon delivers to Jordan towards the end deserves a raise!

So, for a movie that doesn’t even show Jordan except in some archival clips towards the end, Air has just done it. Get it?