GO FISH
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Guinevere Turner, V. S. Brodie, T. Wendy McMillan, Anastasia Sharp, Migdalia Melendez. Screenplay: Rose Troche & Guinevere Turner. Director: Rose Troche.
The problem with nearly every mainstream film dealing with lesbians is that they have been just so *serious*. If you believed what you saw on the screen, you'd think that every lesbian relationship involved a "fallen" heterosexual grappling in anguish with her sexual identity. Even at their best, such "love-that-dare-not-speak-its-name" melodramas painted a picture that just didn't gibe the reality I have seen. What a breath of fresh air GO FISH is: a low-budget romantic comedy finally showing lesbians having fun and leading day-to-day lives. Though uneven and amateurish enough to be occasionally distracting, GO FISH is mostly a frisky and funny pleasure, playing like a sort of WHEN SALLY MET SALLY....
Co-scripter Guinevere Turner stars as Max, an introspective young student who describes herself as "a carefree, single lesbo lookin' for love." Among those who try to help Max in her search for Ms. Right are Max's roommate Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), a sarcastic teacher; Kia's partner Evy (Migdalia Melendez); and gleefully promiscuous Daria (Anastasia Sharp). Eventually they conspire to set Max up with Daria's roommate Ely (V. S. Brodie), a timid and plain-looking veterinary assistant clinging to a moribund long-distance relationship. As Max and Ely take the tentative first steps toward a relationship, their friends gather to analyze their progress, and to discuss other topics near and dear to them.
GO FISH was a labor of love and a financial nightmare for Turner and co-scripter/director Rose Troche, so it may seem unfair to criticize the erratic film quality and choppy editing. However, many of the rookie mistakes Troche makes are difficult to pass off on economics. Between scenes, she often inserts self-consciously artsy snippets of flashing lights, folded hands and spinning tops, and they just aren't in synch with the otherwise light-hearted film. Ditto for the lengthy dream sequence in which Daria is subjected to the scorn and criticism of other lesbians for having sex with a man. It was as though Troche wasn't sure she was ever going to get a chance to make a movie again, and thus threw every idea she had into this one, resulting in a somewhat scattered final product.
Troche is also at the mercy of her mostly non-professional cast, and they in turn are at the mercy of some occasionally very sketchy characters. The best role belongs to Turner, an appealing presence with self-effacing humor. Max is the youngest and least experienced of the principal characters, and Turner sells her insecurity. Also solid is T. Wendy McMillan's Kia, a veteran of the lesbian wars who acts as a sort of mentor to Max. She delivers shome sharp lines with a wry wit, and anchors the scenes in which she, Evy, Daria and Daria's amour-du-jour comment on Max and Ely's relationship. Not so fortunate is V. S. Brodie, who stumbles her way through a part written more through other characters observations than through anything Ely says or does. While I have no problem with the idea that Max might see past Ely's unconventional looks, I would expect there to be a more interesting personality for her to find there.
As underdeveloped as some of the characters might be, they still have plenty of funny things to say. In the film's opening scene, Kia leads a class in speculating on what historical figures, celebrities, and even fictional characters might have been lesbians. The "talking heads" scenes are particularly entertaining, chief among them a discussion of preferred terms for the female genitalia. One late sequence shows Max and Ely individually describing a date to their friends, accompanied by hilariously off-base, RASHOMON-like interpretations of those events depicted on screen. And in the film's sweetest and funniest moment, Ely practically skips home after a particularly good evening with Max. Yet as amusing as GO FISH is, it is not without some frank observations on what it means to be a lesbian in the 1990's. A pair of scenes narrated through Max's journal entries are extremely potent, bringing across both the commonality of the need for love and the unique concerns of these women. GO FISH is not without its bumps and flaws, but it is both funny enough and insightful enough to warrant casting a line into its deep waters.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 fish: 6.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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