Go West
(2005/Water Bearer DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: D Film: C+
Ahmed
Imamovic’s Go West (2005) is part of
what has almost become a subcycle of Gay film where no only does a couple have
to hide their gay sex/love affair in secret, but the additional outside threat
exists that could get them killed instantly because of some kind of
Fascist/Stalinist militant movement. In
this case, it is the Civil War in Bosnia in the early 1990s and asks if the
couple can survive it.
In some
cases, a bad filmmaker would focus on the sex and remain ignorant to the
politics completely in full hack style, but we are sparred that. However, the use of comedy and some good name
actors (Rade Serbedzija, Jean Moreau; both of whom give goods performances) land
up being distraction from what should be the crux of the film, resulting in a
mixed result that never adds up.
That the
feminine gay keeps wearing a wig to pretend to be an actual female works at
first, but eventually ruins any other suspension of disbelief and this is a
disappointment.
The
letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image has some detail issues, but the brighter shots look
better and enough so that this transfer is not a disaster, but an
anamorphically enhanced edition would have been nice. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo,
was a Dolby Digital release and the combination tells us this is a generation
or so down. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
