Are You With Us?: Go

By Shalimar Sahota

April 23, 2009

No way, dude. Tom Cruise is weird and way too old for me.

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The Prophets have been running movie Web sites for a dozen years now. During this period, we have engaged in countless debates about movies, oftentimes championing some of the least heralded releases while ridiculing some of the most successful titles in terms of box office. With Are You With Us?, we ask one of BOP's newest writers to watch a film we have either celebrated or mocked in the past to find out whether they agree with us or not.

Go! actually celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. That's right. You're old.

Back in April 1999, it was released in the US during the same weekend as Never Been Kissed and had to contend with the second weekend of The Matrix. Director Doug Liman followed up Swingers with what was once described to me as a Pulp Fiction wannabe. In fact, damn near every reviewer on the planet had to list the comparisons, so in keeping with this practice, there are multiple stories with quotable dialogue and pop culture references layered with black comedy. Hell, there's even a shot from a car trunk. Where Go! differs is with its focus on the younger generation during a relentless 24-hour period.




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Ronna (Sarah Polley) works at the local supermarket and could do with a good night's sleep. Having just swapped shifts with Simon (Desmond Askew) so that he can go off to Vegas, she is approached by Zack (Jay Mohr) and Adam (Scott Wolf); two TV soap opera actors expecting to find Simon on the checkout, because they want to buy drugs from him. Ronna uses this opportunity to make a little extra money so that she can pay her long overdue rent, so she explains that she'll get the drugs for them. That evening she meets Simon's dealer, scary guy Todd (Timothy Olyphant), but doesn't have enough to pay for the 20 ecstasy pills required. So she leaves her best friend Claire (Katie Holmes) as collateral, while she goes to make the transaction. What follows is a night out that just so happens to be excitedly bad for everyone involved.

The viewing experience is like watching three good short films crammed together to make a great whole. Afterwards I discover that Go had originally started out as a short film, focusing on just Ronna's story. Tacked on is a story about Simon's trip to Vegas as well as the reason behind Zack and Adam's appearance at the supermarket. Each one could work as an extended film on its own. Also it would have been equally interesting if Go displayed an alternate reality (a-la Sliding Doors) where we find out what happened should Ronna have declined to take Simon's shift. Still, a trio of connected stories gives Go that "achronological" style which back then (and even today by some degree) increases the chances of a film being labelled cool amongst teenagers. Go is a cool film, but that's more to do with the hip cast and witty script from John August.


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