Portrait of an Artist, the new ESPN-produced IMAX film centered on Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, follows the night Curry scored his 4,000th career three-pointer. The limited release basketball autobiography evokes Spike Lee’s Kobe Doin’ Work, which similarly followed Kobe Bryant’s playoff-clinching game against the San Antonio Spurs toward the end of the 2008-2009 season. But while the setup is familiar, the ambition of the Gotham Chopra-directed sports documentary is far greater. This film is about basketball the way a great biography is about its subject: as a doorway into something universal.
The title is the thesis. Being one of the best basketball players in the world is no easy feat. To reach the top of the professional sports mountain requires thousands of hours of practice, coupled with millions of miles running up and down the same court. And despite his father, Dell Curry, being one of the most underrated sharp shooters of the 1990s, Steph Curry didn’t have an easy path to the NBA. For much of the 3-time MVP’s high school career, Curry was undersized. He didn’t hit a substantial growth spurt until halfway through his first year in college, meaning he literally had to work twice as hard to get half as far. But the hard work paid off for Steph, leading a 10th-seeded Davidson Wildcats to the Elite Eight and setting the NCAA single-season record for most three-pointers made.
Unfortunately, Curry’s adversity didn’t end when he got to the NBA. Curry suffered multiple ankle injuries early in his time with the Warriors, resulting in an underwhelming first few years. But after countless surgeries and hundreds of missed games, Steph came back stronger than ever, eventually winning 4 NBA championships and redefining the game of basketball.
“Portrait of an Artist” brilliantly illustrates how mastering any craft demands the same heart, rigor, and commitment, whether the arena is a hardwood court, a film set, a recording studio, a canvas, or a runway. The film repeatedly harps on the hours and the repetition, the unglamorous work that makes excellence look effortless. Curry’s own narration, detailing the time he pours into the gym, deliberately draws parallels between basketball and other art forms. Curry’s journey is cleverly interwoven with archival audio from Academy Award winners like Michael B. Jordan, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Viola Davis, composer Jon Batiste, as well as Virgil Abloh, David Bowie, Stanley Kubrick, Freddie Mercury, and many others. Each quote speaks to dedication, discipline, and the need to love the work itself. The editing pairs these testimonies with the basketball sequences so that a tricky jump shot and a controversial creative decision feel like one and the same.
The documentary manages a delicate balance, potent and motivational without feeling manipulative. Its message is simple: if you don’t love what you’re doing, don’t do it, and if you do, give it everything. The film moved me to tears, and I walked out feeling re-energized about my own work. Visually, the 1.43:1 IMAX aspect ratio perfectly frames poetry in motion. The filmmakers present basketball with a scale and epicness that make the sport look genuinely cinematic. The towering frame suits the game’s verticality and larger-than-life experience. Seeing the film on an IMAX screen is a must.
Portrait of an Artist is essential viewing for basketball fans, but its audience is much wider. Any artist, in any medium, will find something here worthwhile. It is an inspiring, beautifully made tribute to what it truly costs, and what it truly gives, to pursue a craft with love. Highly recommended.
