Go Fish **** (1994, V S Brodie, Guinevere Turner, T Wendy McMillan) – Classic Movie Review 9905

Co-writer/director Rose Troche’s low-budget 1994 offbeat romantic comedy drama Go Fish is fresh, funny and frank. Co-written by the film’s star, Guinevere Turner, it is a groundbreaking, relevant movie celebrating lesbian culture with style and attitude.

Apparently, as it claims, the first realistic film representation of lesbian lives, it follows the lives of five lesbians as they go on dates, have fashion crises, oversleep, wish for romance and find love.

The group has decided that young aspiring writer Max (Guinevere Turner) and quiet vet’s assistant Ely (V S Brodie) would make a perfect couple, though Ely has an absent girlfriend and she isn’t Max’s type.

The expertly handled, realistic performances bring to life strongly written characters in a believable, well annotated milieu. The film is unexpectedly charming, romantic and gentle, making points without making PC statements.

In her directorial debut, working with a largely female crew, and filming in Chicago, Illinois, Troche overcomes her tiny budget ($15,000) with imagination and some effective directorial flourishes.

After all the credits: ‘MEN SUCK’.

It launched the careers of Troche and Turner. Troche went on to make Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) and The Safety of Objects (2001).

Go Fish premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, and was that festival’s first film to be sold to a distributor, Samuel Goldwyn, for $450,000. Go Fish was given a timely release during gay pride month in June 1994 and grossed $2.4 million. Significantly, money talks, and those figures ($15,000, $450,000 and then $2.4 million) proved clearly to the film industry that lesbian-themed independent dramas can be marketable.

Also in the cast are T. Wendy McMillan as Kia, Anastasia Sharp as Daria, Migdalia Melendez as Evy, Scout as Hairdresser, Dave Troche as Junior, Jamika Ajalon, Stephanie Boles, Julia LaFleur, Marianna, Dorothea Reichenbacher, Shelly Schneider-Bello, Brooke Webster, and Mimi Weddell.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9905

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