`Go' Ahead by Homer Yen (c) 1999
It's 3AM. Do you know where your children are? Well-hidden and tucked beneath the cosmopolitan Los Angeles landscape exists a breed of youngsters who do what they can to scrape by for their survival. They roam within deteriorating communities awash in the neon lights of porn shops and the blue and red blinking lights of passing police cars. For some, like Ronna and Claire, they are underpaid checkout girls at the local supermarket within their much-in-need-of beautification neighborhood. Their friend includes Simon, who is a small time drug dealer. Their hardened childhoods have made them street smart, resourceful, and desperate. Kids like this don't think, they just do. They just go.
`Go' is an off-centered comedy that employs quirky sex and violence in an environment filled with drugs, rave dances, and strange conversations about pop culture. There are three scenarios that illustrate how a simple decision puts them on a path that will cause their already unfocused lives to spin further out of control. The first one focuses on Ronna (Sarah Polley). She is facing eviction, and unless she can generate rent money in a night, she'll be thrown out. Her plan involves Simon's drug distributor. But she can't anticipate the situation that she's walking into. Her situation is made worse by her accomplice who is tripping out on a powerful hallucinogen during the height of the problem.
The second story features Simon, who is a young, brash, and libidinous teenager on his first trip to Las Vegas. His wide-eyed curiosity is bound to get him into a lot of trouble. For example, accompanied by his friend to a topless bar, he is warned not to get a bottle of champagne (a very expensive invitation for a private lap dance), which he naturally does. Their situation also spins out of control, and as they make their escape, another friend being filled in on the details exclaims, `you mean you stole a car, shot a bouncer and had sex with two girls at the same time?' There's another story that focuses on two men. Their vignette revolves around elements of gayness and a humorous poke at the multi-level marketing structure of Amway, but their inclusion into the overall story line is to show that even responsible adults can get themselves into bizarre situations where their may be no way out.
The film's structure involves an interlocking timeline, where we revisit certain scenes more than once. When we do, we'll be revisiting the same time period through the eyes of a different person. All of these varied stories cleverly converge. This is certainly a well-structured movie. I liked the depiction of the drug euphoria, which was like being underwater where sights and sounds are severely distorted. I'm not condoning drug use, but did enjoy the stylish visualization, depicted as a wild Macarena-like sequence in the produce section of a supermarket and a telepathic cat. There are many offbeat characters that lend energy to this film. I also liked how these kids' lives were symbolized and the general atmosphere of the film. When the frenzied activities of the previous night finally ends, the next thing that they want to is only as clear as the cover of the morning fog. But these kids are scrappy, and they'll find a way to survive.
Grade: B
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews