|
|
|
|
|
Love and Basketball, 2000, 124 minutes, Rated PG-13
By Carla Robinson
I had hoop dreams once. Back in the seventh grade when all the cool girls lined
up to shoot the rock, including my ace boon, Lisa S. Whatever Lisa did, I, as prone to
follow as an imprinted duckling, did too. I donned number 02 and went to work as a
forward. Cute little Lisa got to be a guard, which made me curse being tall and lumbering
and nicknamed Lurch. But when Lurch took the court, look out! That is, if you were on my
team because after half-time, I’d forget the part about switching baskets and keep
hurling the ball in the wrong direction with everyone shouting, “No, Lurch!
That’s the other team’s!” I scored two points during my season as a baller
- for the opposition. If Lisa is somewhere in the WNBA today, I want to say to her, so
what? I’d rather poke out my eye than have anything to do with basketball. |
|
To
Buy
Click Here |
|
|
I dragged this gym bag full of issues
off to Love and Basketball, a new urban flick written and directed by first-timer Gina
Prince-Bythewood, fully prepared to hurl gale force epithets at the screen every time I
caught glimpses of a court. Making a bad situation excruciating, I saw that Spike Lee was
one of the producers. Memories of He Got Game
covered me like scabies. But I learned that there is a Goddess. My disposition changed
with the film’s opening scene, in which Young Quincy and friends allow Young Monica
to hold court with them because they think she’s a boy, only to be promptly treated
to a sound tail whipping.
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
Support MOSAEC, Visit Our Sponsors
|
|
As the film progressed, a miracle happened. I, Lurch,
became utterly enthralled by the game sequences that are as neatly folded into the story
as batter in a cake pan. They serve to heighten the dramatic tension. I’ve got to
give it up for Prince-Bythewood’s creation of a world that outruns cliché and
presents a moving view of a one-on-one relationship set amid issues of friendship,
jealousy, loyalty, and rivalry. Because all the elements work together, every basket is
essential; every ball scene gracefully executed. I shamefully submit that I paid more
attention to the court in this movie than I did when I was on it.
|
|
|
|
Off the court, the best love story
between a Black man and woman since Nothing But a Man emerges. We follow Quincy (Omar
Epps) and Monica’s (Sanaa Lathan) relationship through rocky college days and the
rigors of pro ball. The film’s power punch is the chemistry between Lathan and Epps.
There’s a moment, at their high school dance, when Quincy looks at Monica with such
sensuality and longing that it rivals the scene where Billy Dee tells Diana to take the
money in Lady Sings the Blues. Smartly acted (props to Alfre Woodard and Debbi Morgan, who
are all kinds of incredible in their mom roles), feminist in its leanings and beautifully
written, Love and Basketball is championship material. Take it from number 02.
M
April 2000
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Vote for MO'
Make Donation Below |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
