Go for Sisters (DVD REVIEW)
Go
for Sisters
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Sayles’ South of the Border Whodunit Released on DVD
Bernice Stokes (LisaGay
Hamilton) is a parole officer in Los
Angeles where her job routinely places her in close
proximity with the dregs of society. She normally has no reason to associate
with such miscreants after hours, being very straitlaced and coming from a
solid, middle class background.
However, everything changes the day
the single-mom’s only child (McKinley Belcher, III) suddenly vanishes without a
trace. Rodney, an Iraq War veteran hadn’t been the same since serving overseas.
Bernice was aware that he’d been
hanging out with some unsavory characters recently, including a suspected drug
dealer who was just murdered. Desperate to find her son, she strikes an
unspoken bargain with Fontayne Scott (Yolonda Ross), a new client who has just
flunked a urine test.
Rather than report Fontayne to her
superior, Bernice enlists the streetwise addict’s assistance in the search.
Complicating matters a bit is the fact that the two had been close friends back
in high school. So, while unearthing clues pointing to Tijuana, the former BFFs are afforded an
opportunity to deconstruct the events leading to their falling out over a boy
they both wanted.
Besides Fontayne’s help, Bernice
also retains the services of Freddy Suarez (Edward James Olmos), a disgraced,
LAPD detective whose investigative experience and fluent Spanish are likely to
come in handy south of the border. Packing a guitar and singing in the car, the
unlikely trio heads for Mexico,
posing as a musical group in order to not arouse suspicion.
Written and directed by two-time,
academy Award-nominee John Sayles (for Passion Fish and Lone Star), Go for
Sisters is a deliberately-paced crime drama which benefits as much from
absorbing character development as from the intrigue surrounding solving the
underlying whodunit. Credit charismatic Edward James Olmos for keeping the
movie compelling, although Yolonda Ross and LisaGay Hamilton manage to fold
their own opposite the Oscar-nominated
thespian (for Stand and Deliver).
A dangerous border town as no
country for old men or middle-aged sisters either.
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running
time: 122 minutes
Distributor:
Freestyle Digital Media / Variance Films
DVD
Extras: Theatrical trailers; and commentary with director John Sayles.
To
order a copy of Go for Sisters on DVD, visit:
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