Go Fish
Lambda Literary Award (Lammy)
By Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche
Go Fish won acclaim in its initial release in 1994, probably because of its irreverence in gazing at the lives of a group of young lesbians in Chicago.
The film was directed and cowritten by Rose Troche, who went on to make Bedrooms and Hallways with the help of Guinevere Turner, her then-partner and star of this film. (Turner later appeared in several films and collaborated with director Mary Harron to bring the nearly unadaptable Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho to the big screen.)
Go Fish is an audience film in that it needs a crowd to make its in-joke mentality pulse. In fact, it’s hard to believe the film transcended its target demographic despite the fact that in its heart of hearts it’s an old-fashioned love story. It feels amateurish upon solo home viewing, though retaining an iota of charm for its low-budget clunkiness and funkiness. While it basically tells the story of a young lesbian (played by Turner) looking for Ms. Right, and conforms to a standard scenario in that love is always found where it’s least expected, it benefits mostly from Troche’s ability to wring some wit out of “dyke drama” and, with her insider’s point of view, poke gentle fun at it with a relatively sharp stick. –Paula Nechak
