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FICTION REVIEWS |
(click here to go back to main page)--What did I think of THE MATRIX? Click here to find out.GO (rating:9 out 10)
(1999,directed by Doug Liman)I'm really excited and won't contain myself: GO is the best film of the spring season. I'm not overstating it. The past six months have brought many mediocre films. GO makes you realize how truly boring, repetitive, uninspired and banal most mainstream films are. It might even be one of the best films of the year. Sad fact: It might completely slide out of view in a couple of weeks due to poor marketing, and the fact that spring tends to never yield a blockbuster hit. People are simply not accustomed for great movies to open at this time. Final point: Everyone is just waiting for the Star Wars movie to come out.Regardless, for those who choose to see it, they are in for a treat. GO follows the hilarious misadventures of a dozen characters as they go about having a good time in Los Angeles and Las Vegas on Christmas eve. There's Ronna(Sarah Polley), the teenage-something supermarket clerk who is broke and about to be evicted. She decides to carry out a one-time drug deal to make ends meet. But a simple plan soon becomes a harrowing sequence of events for herself, and two of her co-worker friends; one of them, Claire, played by Dawson's Creek cutie, Katie Holmes. Simon(Desmond Askew), another of Ronna's co-workers, goes on a fun weekend trip to Vegas with three of his friends and returns to Los Angeles on the run from a local strip club owner intent on blowing his head off. Adam and Zack(Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr), daytime soap actors, can't have any fun as they are forced into acting in an entrapping drug deal. Their night goes from bad to worse to just disturbingly weird. Walking in, out, around and between these stories are many other memorable characters: A hunky, yet very deadly drug dealer. A kid who just about fries his brain on a double shot of Ecstasy. A level-headed Brotha who educates his friends on the pleasure of Tantric sex. And the undercover narc agent with a highly sexually insinuating manner.All these ironies, coincidences, and disasters are excellently, coolly arranged by director Doug Liman, who previously directed SWINGERS, also a very good original comedy from a couple of years ago(and one of my favorites). The key in making such a complex film work is in its execution and Liman never drops the ball, keeping the pace moving smoothly as well as using electronic music to full effect on the film's soundtrack. Like SWINGERS, the soundtrack, with selections from Fatboy Slim to the overhyped new No Doubt song, enhances the film's atmosphere. Get the soundtrack--like those from the films TRAINSPOTTING and PULP FICTION, it's a keeper...Unless you can't stand electronic music.Don't be surprised if you keep thinking PULP FICTION as you watch this film. The stories are pure pulp storytelling, and Quentin Tarantino and his magnum opus will keep coming to mind. The film owes a lot to PULP FICTION: from its structure to assemblage of characters. GO has an awesome screenplay as its foundation. Writer John August scores big by writing GO, his first screenplay. The dialogue is sharp and the plotting is disarming. Can't wait to see what August writes next. Or what Liman directs next.GO is unassuming, unpretentious, funny, amoral, brash and all unforgettable: Simply GO and don't miss it on the big screen.Armando Valle. (click here to go back to main page) |
