Review Fix Tribeca Film Festival Coverage: Love In the Time of March Madness Review: A Not Too Tall Tale

Melissa Johnson shines light on her shadow in this introspective yet dark animated short film “Love In the Time of March Madness,” about her life as a conspicuously tall female athlete and her struggle to find acceptance and love.

Johnson constantly refers to her life as march madness because of the hoopla she becomes surrounded with because of her height, including the awe and bafflement of others. When she is in public, the constant annoying questions commence, “Do you play basketball?” “Are you a model?” “Have you ever thought about limb reduction?”. She has also played basketball since her first growth spurt in her adolescence, which brings the theme of the movie full circle and provides nice double meaning to the story. Basketball and her life always went together, as well as being the center of attention.

Because of her unusual height, the narrator has had a difficult time fitting in and maintaining personal relationships. The film featured dark undertones and Tim Burton-esque animation. The script was witty and poetic, while maintaining a somber, noir feel. The dark texture of the short is likely alluding to the darkness inside the soul of the narrator. Constantly searching for answers, trying to find herself and become comfortable in her own skin is reminiscent of the darkness of the void in which her animated character wanders in.

The film was well put together, the visuals were in sync with the narration, adding nice storybook qualities to it. The overall feel of the film stirs up your own memories of dealing with insecurities, allowing you to sympathize with her situation. She gets to a point where she has a philosophical epiphany that most of the people who approach her just project on to her what’s going on in their own minds. From that point on she came to the understanding to not have any attachment to the judgments of others. That sequence added a lot of depth and intellectual and moral value to the film.

Being 6’4 at the age of 32 with her good basketball years behind her and many failed relationships in her past, the narrator did a wonderful job at exemplifying her life to shine light on the topic of insecurity and turn her perceived negative situation into a positive one, for her and the viewers. Although we all must wander through tough times and metaphorical dark alleys in our lives, Johnson reminds us to always keep our flashlight with us to shine on the negativity and let our acceptance of ourselves trump what any one else ever has to say.