Go For Sisters

Go For Sisters
Fri 1/17 9:00 w/ beer/wine in mezzanine; Sun 1/19 2:30 & 7:30; Mon 1/20 9:00; Tue 1/21 6:30; Wed 1/22 9:00; Thur 1/23 6:30

Dir: John Sayles / US / English & Spanish with English subtitles / 123 minutes / DCP

Go For Sisters is John Sayles’ (Matewan, Lone Star, Passion Fish) newest film. An all-too-rare film centering around the friendship of two African-American women entering middle age, it is the story of Bernice (LisaGay Hamilton) and Fontayne (Yolonda Ross), who as teens were such close friends and resembled one another so strikingly that people said they could “go [pass] for sisters”. 20 years later, having not seen or spoken with each other since a betrayal destroyed their friendship, Bernice is a seen-it-all Los Angeles parole officer who is surprised to find that one of her new clients is Fontayne, a recovering drug addict newly released from prison. This unexpected encounter starts to rekindle their connection, and when Bernice’s Iraq veteran son is suspected in an underworld murder and turns up kidnapped, Bernice turns to Fontayne and her criminal connections to find him. Tipped off that Bernice’s son may be across the border in Mexico, they team up with Suarez (Edward James Olmos), a disgraced former LAPD detective suffering from macular degeneration but still in full possession of his detective’s intellect, and delve into the murky, dangerous world of human trafficking. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praises, “With the help of Hamilton, Ross, and Olmos, sublime actors who radiate grit and grace, Sayles has made Go For Sisters a movie that stays inside your head long after you see it. It’s a keeper.”