Go

I like that thing they've been doing in films recently where you get to see the same bit of time again and again from different points of view. I first saw it in Night on Earth, then in Pulp Fiction and most recently in Hilary and Jackie. Now, a new film called simply Go does it again, and does it brilliantly. Go is set over a 24-hour period at Christmas in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and it follows the events surrounding a drug deal that goes horribly wrong. It shows the night's events from the points of view of three different groups of people who's lives are inextricably connected. Checkout attendant Ronna (played by Sarah Polley) is about to be evicted from her apartment and desperately needs to make enough money to pay the rent, so she attempts to do her first drug deal to score the cash. When she suspects she has been set up by the police, she panics, dumps the Ecstasy pills and tries to get her money back from the dealer by replacing them with Aspirin. Hmm... if I disclose any more of the plot, I'll spoil the film.

The cop in the film, Burke, played by William Fichtner, is a really strange guy. His partners are a couple of TV actors who have been forced to help him since they were busted for possession of drugs. During the night these two guys find a new meaning in Christmas, when they visit Burke's home for dinner, meet his wife, and learn about his various "hobbies".

Although it's a comedy, the film reminded me of all the reasons why I think messing with drugs just isn't worth the trouble. For example, it shows the plight of a young man who has taken too much Ecstasy, and allows us to see what he's seeing. Not really very nice at all. At one point he has a telepathic conversation with a cat who tells him something he really doesn't need to hear. The film also shows what can happen if you upset a drug dealer, and why playing with guns is a bad idea. Of course, this kind of thing has been done in plenty of films before, but Go somehow really sticks it in your face. The acting and dialogue is very natural and there's a feeling of 'being there' with the characters which is unnerving. I think that we have all had strange times in our lives when we've asked "What the hell is going on? What am I doing here?". The characters in Go are probably asking themselves the same questions.

All in all, a very enjoyable film, funny but at the same time serious. I didn't particularly like a few of the final scenes, they were a bit too silly, and if it wasn't for that I would have given it top marks.