Much of the movie’s basketball occurs in the third quarter, which sees both Monica and Quincy as student-athletes at USC. While Quincy continues being a celebrated star, Monica must make her name on a team of veterans. Thoughtfully, Prince-Bythewood doesn’t try to balance how many minutes of basketball we see each playing. She heavily focuses on Monica. In fact, on the Criterion release of the film, there’s a deleted scene of Quincy playing with his father, which points to Prince-Bythewood and Shropshire consciously working to build the film for Monica (Prince-Bythewood often credits her husband, Reggie Bythewood, for being a sounding board for honing Monica’s story).
The rhythm and intensity of the sport on-screen is also pivotal to Love & Basketball. During Monica’s final game with Crenshaw High School, Prince-Bythewood and her cinematographer, Reynaldo Villalobos (Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion), crafts Monica’s gameplay by opting for first-person perspective. The use of handheld swings viewers through the lanes and past defenders as Monica’s internal monologue provides us a window into her drive and insecurities. For Monica’s practices with USC, Prince-Bythewood and Villalobos shoot the action happening in the gym from a high angle, causing Monica to blend into the other players. The change in visual language tells the viewer that Monica is no longer the star, but one of the many fighting for playing time.
Ramón agrees: “The camerawork is electric. Prince-Bythewood places the viewer in Monica and Quincy’s POV on the court, dishing out and receiving passes and shooting the ball. At other times, we watch them in action, and the basketball movement is some of the best put on film.”
Most importantly, Prince-Bythewood, in her core, knows the beauty of a ball spinning in the air. Rarely does she capture anyone attempting a shot only to cut to a close-up of the ball, thereby causing the film’s physical world to be artificially rendered. Rather, the camera often follows the flight of the ball in the air from the player’s fingertips and through the hoop, allowing the poetry of the ball’s motion to flourish.
