Review of Go for Sisters (2013) by Manny C — 30 Aug 2014

One thing to know about filmmaker John Sayles: from his feature debut, 1980's amazing Return of The Secaucus Seven, on through Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, Passion Fish, The Secret of Roan Inish, Lone Star and Men With Guns, Silver City and Amigo, Sayles is one of the most consistent and original voices in filmmaking today, a true independent whose characters are always part of their world almost symbiotically, and often overwhelmed by it.

Go For Sisters is the 18th film from Sayles and it's a doozy, deceptively simple and terrifically structured. It centers on two women who have been so close since high school they could pass for sisters. But they haven't seen one another in years. Bernice (LisaGay Hamilton) is now working as a parole officer in California, while Fontayne (Yolonda Ross) is an ex-con and recovering junkie now on Bernice's bad side, since she can send her back to jail for any minor infraction. But Bernice needs Yolonda's help. Her Iraq-vet son, Rodney, is missing, and a friend of his has been murdered, so Bernice needs to find him fast. With the help of Yolonda, they come face to face with disgraced police detective Freddy Suarez (Edward James Olmos, just superb) who gets them to Tijuana where Rodney may have been smuggling Chinese immigrants into the country.

That's all I'll say about plot. One of the best things about a Sayles film is how they sneak up on you and just floor you. The unlikely trio of Bernice, Yolonda and Freddy come across enough characters to fill many movies, or a novel, something Sayles also does well, thus his expansive approach. Audience who can sit still for anything that isn't a Transformers movie will balk. Screw them. Sure, his storytelling technique can stifle the narrative, but for me the benefits and riches outweigh the flaws. Sayles excels in the personal, the everyday, allowing him to craft a world much like our own, no matter how stylized or bizarre. Humanism drives Sayles, not flash and action. Hamilton, Ross and Olmos are all sublime. Go For Sisters stays with you long after seeing it. Find this one on DVD now.