Film
Go Fish
A 1994 indie romantic comedy about Max, a stylish lesbian searching for love, set up with Ely, who challenges every assumption she has about attraction and compatibility. Shot on a shoestring with warmth and humour, it's a fizzy, unpretentious celebration of queer dating and found family. For anyone who's ever fallen for someone completely unexpected.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like loose, talky ensemble comedies about young women fumbling through dating and friendship, where the awkwardness feels observed rather than staged and the mood stays warm.
Skip it if you need a plot with momentum, since this drifts through scenes of hanging out and its scrappy, small-scale look can feel thin.
What it asks of you: Its 83 minutes run quickly, but the pace is loose and conversational, so it rewards patience with small moments rather than big set pieces; the tone stays light.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Chasing Amy1997
Kevin Smith's witty, tender exploration of desire, identity and what we think we want versus who we actually need. It takes messy queer romance seriously without losing the laugh-out-loud dialogue.
But The first half leans heavily into crude jokes and male gaze, and the third act hinges on a romantic gesture that reads differently now than it did in 1997.
But I'm a Cheerleader2000
Bubblegum-bright comedy with a trans lead and queer ensemble cast, centred on dismantling beauty standards and finding yourself. Genuinely funny, visually inventive, unapologetically joyful about desire.
But The satire of conversion therapy, while sharp, sits adjacent to real trauma. Some moments play it very broadly.
Bound1996
The Wachowskis' erotic thriller about two women outsmarting the mob. Stylish, sensual, tightly plotted, and treats queer desire as the absolute centre of a heist film without apology or explanation.
But The 90s tech-noir aesthetic has aged in specific ways. If graphic sexuality in the first act isn't your preference, it's front-loaded.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Go Fish
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Lianna1983
Both examine what happens when you fall out of the life you thought was yours and realise you want something else entirely. Same story, opposite tone.
John Sayles made this film about a suburban woman discovering she's a lesbian—a straight drama about an oblique awakening. It's Go Fish's serious counterpart: the same story, different register, made in a different era.
But It's deliberately quiet and unglamorous. There's no comedy relief and no neat arc. It's about being stuck.
More like this (8)
The Children's Hour1961
William Wyler's quietly devastating film about two schoolteachers destroyed by a rumour of homosexuality. Not a comedy, but a perfect partner to Go Fish's thesis: the gap between what people see and what's true.
But It's deeply sad and very of its era. The ambiguity about whether the women's feelings are 'real' will frustrate modern viewers—as it should.
Kissing Jessica Stein2002
A Jewish woman explores her sexuality with an artist. It's flirty and funny and genuinely about the terror and thrill of not knowing yourself until someone shows you. Excellent supporting cast.
But Some character work around sexuality feels more like a phase than a discovery, and the ending divides people sharply.
Appropriate Behavior2015
Desiree Akhavan writes and stars as a queer woman navigating dating, family and identity post-breakup in New York. Cringe comedy done with real affection and specificity about desire and miscommunication.
But The humour is uncomfortable by design—second-hand embarrassment is the engine. If that's not your jam, it'll grate.
Circumstance2011
A gorgeous, dangerous portrait of two girls falling in love in Iran. Intimate and political without being a lecture; it captures the fever of early desire under genuine threat.
But The backdrop of state violence is not decorative—it's inescapable. It's a heavy film about a light feeling.
Imagine Me & You2006
A bride meets a florist on her wedding day and realises what she's been missing. Sweet, charming, and uninterested in tragedy. Sometimes you just want to feel good.
But It's a rom-com through and through, which means it's fluffy to the point of weightlessness for some tastes.
Mulholland Drive2001
David Lynch's fractured Los Angeles mystery hinges on a relationship between two women that may be memory, may be desire, may be neither. Hypnotic, confounding, genuinely about how we lie to ourselves about love.
But It's deliberately opaque and demands interpretation. If ambiguity frustrates you, or if three-hour puzzle boxes tire you, this won't click.
The Killing of Two Lovers2021
Both understand that romance isn't about perfect compatibility—it's about the question of whether you can stay, and why you might choose to.
A quietly extraordinary film about a marriage in crisis, shot in Utah, that moves through infidelity and rage toward something unexpected. Formal, precise, devastatingly human about desire and what we owe each other.
But It's glacial and minimal. Long takes of people in rooms. If you need plot momentum or conventional narrative satisfaction, it will exhaust you.
Chungking Express1994
Both are 1994 films about looking for connection and finding it where you didn't expect. But where Go Fish is sunlit and generous, this is moody and impossible—same year, opposite worlds.
Wong Kar-wai's fever dream of two cops haunted by women in the same year as Go Fish. Shot through neon and rain, about beautiful people wanting the wrong things. Pure cinema, dizzyingly romantic and sad.
But The plot is nearly abstract. If you need narrative clarity or linear storytelling, the style will feel like obstruction rather than poetry.
People
Cast
- V.S. BrodieEly
- Anastasia SharpDaria
Mimi WeddellMimi- Stephanie BolesAlice
- Julia LaFleurAndy
Directing
- Wendy QuinnAssistant Director
- Lisa RaymondContinuity
- Rick PowellContinuity
- Rose TrocheDirector
Writing
- Guinevere TurnerWriter
- Rose TrocheWriter
Production
- V.S. BrodieAssociate Producer
- Christine VachonExecutive Producer
- Tom KalinExecutive Producer
- Guinevere TurnerProducer
- Rose TrocheProducer
- Joanne MortonProduction Assistant
- Rick PowellProduction Assistant