B-2 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JUNE 24, 1994

Go Fish deals a winning hand

Reviewed by Charlton Harper

Okay, so you're sick of Hollywood's current trendy love affair with queer America. Your initial delight in seeing lesbians and gays up there on the big screen in big

budget pictures with big

names has eroded faster

than the finish on Tom Even Cowgirls Get the

Hanks' Oscar. Maybe

Blues has left you seeing red. Did Threesome leave you lonesome and

hungry for something

more?

Well, starve no more.

Go Fish, the latest piece

of New Queer Cinema, shows us just what is missing from Hollywood's myopic portrayal of gay life:

But the loftier moments of Go Fish never get bogged down in aimless philosophical debate, thanks to a cast that is the most natural ensemble group a director could

It's simply amazing that real quality can be accomplished on

want. Troche's decision to film her story in what is easily the most gorgeous black and white movie you'll see anytime soon adds a rich roasted flavor.

a shoestring budget, Scenes are broken up with inexperienced actors, filmed in someone's living

room.

genuine queer perspective. Imagine the daring concept here: a story about lesbians, written, directed and produced by lesbians. Better yet, it works.

The plot is simple enough. Max (Guinevere Turner) is a "hip-hop barbie" who hasn't had a date in over a year. When she whines about her lonely Friday nights, her roommate and college professor, Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), and Kia's girlfriend Evy (Migdalia Melendez) tease her about her narrow tastes and picky attitude. Daria (Anastasia Sharp) has similar troubles with her roommate, Ely (V.S. Brodie), a quiet woman with hippie-length hair who maintains a long-distance relationship with a mystery woman she hasn't seen in a year. The problem for Kia, Daria and Evy is how to spark some romance between such unwilling participants. Picture Hello Dolly without the music, the heterosexist slant, the costumes, the time period, Streisand and... well you get the idea.

But director/writer Rose Troche has done more than provide us with an hour and a half of lightweight escapist drivel. Though the love woes of Max and Ely give Troche and co-writer Turner the chance to explore modern lesbian issues, Go Fish is a mirror that reflects back to its audience a feeling of "these are my issues too," no matter what your gender or orientation. Filtered throughout the film we see the scheming matchmakers busy at work, but also in honest discussion about gender roles, labels, love and desire.

Daria, a wild child with a new girlfriend every week, along with the occasional boyfriend, challenges those around her with their need to label and categorize desire. Evy has finally broken lose from the stranglehold of a bad ten-year hetero-marriage, but must face the conflicts of a disapproving Old World mom who doesn't understand lesbians, much less her own sexuality. Max must face her own prejudices about appearances and labels like 'butch' and 'fem' if she is ever going to find love. Ely must shake off the hold of the past and her fear of the new if she wants to get out of the house. With Go Fish set against a backdrop of bigcity life, Troche takes a moment here and there to remind us that this gay ghetto may be an oasis where women can hold hands together on the street, but they are not completely safe from homophobia and hate, the dirt and grit of everyday queer life.

J & M

PHOTOGRAPHY

P.O. BOX 15006 CLEVELAND OHIO • 44115 STUDIO 1250 RIVERBED ST. CLEVELAND

OHIO

44113

216 771 7104

JAMES W. STENNIES JR.

by tasty eye candy, arty moments that could easily become black and white framed stills-a hand continuously tries to spin a top, a cappuccino poured into a glass, Kia proudly holding her own against a verbal bashing on the mean streets of Chicago.

It's simply amazing that real quality can be accomplished on a shoestring budget, with inexperienced actors, filmed in someone's living room. Will Hollywood

curbside

ever learn from the example of independent filmmakers? Obviously this film has the potential to make it big; witness the speed with which Samuel Goldwyn snapped it up last year. I just hope someone is paying attention back in those corporate offices.

SHOPPER'S GUIDE

UNSOLICITED ADVICE FROM ROBERT KIRBY MAKE A LIST, CHECK IT TWICE

1994

Most importantly, Go Fish will make you proud of the distance queer culture has traveled. There is an ease and grace here that are simply stunning for a consciouness that was only really awakened a few decades ago. Unlike the card game of the same name, Go Fish is no crapshoot with a winner and a loser. Gamblers would call it a sure thing. I call it the real thing.

OH YEAH, LET'S GET SOME OF THOSE "LIL' DEBBIE " SNACKIN' CAKES!

WE CAN, BUT I'M NOT

PAYING FOR 'EM!

THEN I'M NOT PAYING FOR THOSE ONIONS YOU WANT.

BUT

I USE'EM IN MY STIR FRY... YOU LOVE MY STIR

FRY!

don't

you?

PRETEND TO LISTEN TO THE SAMPLE LADIES EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF PURCHASING THE PRODUCT THEY'RE HAWKING.

|გი

13.

171

THEY'RE 98% FAT FREE AND WITH NO PRESER-

VATIVES

OH UH HUH..

AND THESE COCKTAIL WEENIES ARE ONLY 1.79 WITH A COUPON SIR!

MMM... HUH..

liliane

CHEW

CAN I HAVE ANOTHER

ONE?

The girl is out there. Max (Guinevere Turner, left) and Ely (V.S. Brodie, right) have their own kind of foreplay in Go Fish.

PATIENCE WITH OTHERS WILL HELP TO MAKE YOUR EXCURSION A HAPPY ONE ! SCUSE

WE MUSN'T FORGET TO REMAIN EVER POLITICALLY VIGILANT !!

EXCUSE

ME.

AHEM

COFF

HA HA

Connel

AAAA

HEE HEE

CHOOSE YOUR CHECKOUT LANE VERY CAREFULLY...

TONE, I THINK YOU PICKED A BAD LINE... I BETCHA AISLE 5 WOULD GO A LOT FASTER. THIS CASHIER IS SO SLOW!

SMOKE

NEWS

MOVIE STAR

TUG

... it

says here

900

that gay

Couples shouldn't get the same benefits as married and Common-law Couples because homosexuality is immoral.

FAMILY VALUES PREACHER CONVICTED OF TAX FRAUD

1994 leanne franson

... isn't adultery one of

HEREDITARY

the items on the "morally doubtful" list?

COMPONENTIN WIFE-BATTE

JEANCLE

VANDA

AND HANICE

BUTT P.6

TUG

PLUS THE WOMAN IN FRONT OF US HAS A MESS O'COUPONS... IT'S GONNA TAKE FOREVER

TO CHECK HER OUT..

SO HONEY LETS GO ON OVER TO AISLE 5 OK?..HONEY?

YUM! ORANGES!

DELICIOUS,

NUTRITIOUS

DON'T DO IT TONY!! ICKY

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS THEIR SPOKESPERSON!! (GASP)

FLORIDA RANGES

$289

A BAG!

WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE SAFELY OUT OF EVERYONE'S EARSHOT TO BLOW A GASKET.

FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS FOR TWO LOUSY BAGS OF GROCERIES?! THAT IS SO ☆@#!! SICK!!

WELL IT WAS REALLY ONLY FIFTY ONE NINETEEN, BUT MAN THAT CASHIER WAS SLOW....

isn't "living in sin"

a synonym for

"living

Commonlaw"?

and here's a survey... seems that over fifty percent of married

GRANDFATHER

CONVICTED OF

ANCEST

men and

forty percent of

married women cheat on

their

FOUND INSP YASSAGE PARLOUR INCLUDE FIFT

MARRIED HEN

... now if they cut all these

immoral people's Spousal benefits, ...as well as dependants' benefits to all children

PARI

"born out of wed:

lock?..

Spouse

... insisting of course, that they continue paying for said benefits as gays do...

it would be all much more moral, and so much less financial strain on the

whole system! I think i'll Write my member of parliament!!!