Go Fish

If you can imagine a cross between She’s Gotta Have It, Annie Hall and The Women, then you’ll have a bit of an idea why Go Fish is viewed in Hollywood as the first lesbian romantic comedy with the strong potential to win a mainstream audience.

The fact that Go Fish is extremely funny and very accurate in its observations about sex and love is a big plus in its favor. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female, straight or gay – the jokes are on target either way.

That’s one of the reasons why Go Fish is the must-see independent film of the year. Its all-female ensemble cast and girl-meets-girl storyline is a rare treat in the male-dominated American cinema. But its shrewd and knowing look at the confusion zone that lies between raw sex and genuine romantic yearning finds a universal rapport that’s both fresh and time-honored.

The freewheeling plot is centered around Max (Guinevere Turner) and Ely (V. S. Brodie), a mix-matched couple that seems to be anything except made for each other. Max is a would-be writer in her early 20s who hasn’t dated for more than a year and is waiting for Ms. Right to come along. Ely is middle-aged and reclusive, and has an out-of-state girlfriend who rarely telephones. On the surface, the only thing connecting Max and Ely is a string of mutual friends who’ve decided that the two lonely hearts should get together.

While Max and Ely hesitantly view each other’s merits, their pals form a Greek chorus that voices the movie’s brash survey on the thorny contradictions between love and sexual politics. Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), one of Max’s university professors, is a theorist divided between her own gently jaded feelings about love’s longevity (and lack thereof) and her ever-increasing involvement with a new flame. On the other side of the choir is Daria (Anastasia Sharp), who argues that everything is about sex and who’s determined to have as much of it as she can.

Filmed in Chicago on a low-budget, Go Fish has the grainy black-and-white look of a documentary. But it also has a well-tuned script by Guinevere Turner and director Rose Troche, as well as a sense of youthful charm that enlivens nearly every scene. Go Fish is an exercise in go-for-broke film making, and it comes up a winner on most of its bets.

One of the best things about Go Fish is its warm sense of the heart’s desire. It has feelings without being mawkish and satiric flippancy without being icy. It knows the score, but still wants to chase after that elusive thing called love. And that’s a truth that goes for everyone.