Director: Doug Liman
Writer: John August
Cinematography: Doug Liman
Ronna Martin: Sarah Polley
Claire Montgomery: Katie Holmes
Todd Gaines: Timothy Olyphant
Mannie: Nathan Bexton
Simon Baines: Desmond Askew
Marcus: Taye Diggs
Zack: Jay Mohr
Adam: Scott Wolf
The alley cat: Princess Leah Lucky Buttons |
What does anyone do when they find themselves in a tight situation? Go! And that's what each of the key characters do in this black comic romp. They go as fast as they can away from the threatening situations they too frequently find themselves in.
"Go" is the second feature from American director Doug Liman, who also photographed the film. [Liman had a hit with his earlier film "Swingers" (1996)]. "Go" is a madcap race through a world of drug, sex and alcohol. Four relatively innocent young people find themselves way out of their depth when lured into the world of drugs and big money in an effort to extricate themselves from relatively minor difficulties. Ronna is a checkout chick who, faced with eviction, agrees to take an extra shift for Simon. Simon wants to hit Vegas with three mates, but he's also the one who scores drugs for Zac and Adam. In Simon's absence Ronna is unable to resist the opportunity of making extra money by standing in for him - but things don't work out quite the way she planned.
The resulting events are told from three different perspectives: Take One = Ronna; Take Two: Simon; Take Three = Zac & Adam - echoes of Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" and much, much earlier Kurosawa's "Rashomon" (1950).
Comparisons are easy to make with this film - the Australian film "Two Hands" comes to mind as well as those already mentioned - but "Go" is nevertheless unique in its own way and as American as "Two Hands" is Australian. I particularly liked the strength of the female roles - both Ronna and her friend Claire have a self-sufficient energy about them and are ever ready to take a risk and rise to a challenge, and they do it despite the guys. I also appreciated the way the film had a dig at racial prejudice via the character of Marcus and included, as unremarkable, the gay couple Zac and Adam. The scripting is good and all loose ends are nicely tied up.
"Go" is a cartoon-style romp, full of energy and exuberance. There are no deaths (one only near death) and only one hand gun: cars may get totaled but they somehow keep on running long enough to ensure escape and characters survive battered and bruised but ready to party another day.
| 
