# Go Now (1995)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    GO NOW

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Gramercy Pictures/PolyGram Director: Michael Winterbottom Writer: Paul Henry Powell, Jimmy McGovern Cast: Robert Carlyle, Juliet Aubrey

The British have a way with working class comedies, with Pater Cattaneo's "The Full Monty" getting the big Oscar nomination along with movies far more titanic. With "Go Now," Michael Winterbottom--whose "Welcome to Sarajevo" was one of last year's trenchant dramas of the tragedies of war--displays his skill at evoking humor out of the most wrenching circumstances. "Go Now," named for one of the songs on its notable soundtrack, deals with the dread disease of multiple sclerosis but does not succumb to the banal disease-of-the-week format. Nor does it separate its humorous sections from its tragic aspects. Based on scripter Paul Henry Powell's actual experience with the malady, "Go Now" certainly has its somber moments, but humor informs even the most melancholy viewpoints so effectively and in such good taste that the movie does not dampen audience mood nor does it mock the obviously serious implications of the condition. Anyone in the audience who has ever had his or her happy life muffled by the sudden onslaught of debilitating illness will relate strongly to this slice of an athlete's vicissitudes.

This is not to say that Mr. Winterbottom's vision is fully realized. The film's repetitiveness is distracting, particularly in exhibiting a soccer coach's diatribes to a frequently inept team and one character's insistence on feeding the same, self-defeating line to women he is trying to bed. For those in the audience not born into the working classes of Britain's hinterlands, subtitles would have been welcome.

"Go Now" spends considerable time developing the milieu of working-class society in Bristol, England, focusing on the Scottish-born Nick Cameron (Robert Carlyle) and his relationship with his peers on the soccer field and with a woman, Karen Walker (Juliet Aubrey) whom he has begun dating and who has moved in with him. He has a satisfying life as a plasterer during the week, kicking a football in weekend competitions and taking the jibes of his teammates, particularly those of his best pal Tony (James Nesbitt). When he begins seeing double and has trouble holding on to the tools of his trade because of increasing numbness, he visits a doctor and is given glasses. Behind the scenes, however, the physician tells his girl friend that Nick may have MS which, we learn, sometimes spreads almost imperceptibly, sometimes with paralyzing rapidity. Unfortunately for Nick, his case progresses rapidly so that toward the movie's conclusion, he is using two canes to walk and can no longer work with his hands.

Though Karen is supportive, Nick predictably is irritated from his infirmity and takes his problems out on her, insisting that she leave him and find a better life elsewhere. Though Karen is pushed temporarily into the arms of her boss, she is too much in love with Nick ultimately to betray him.

As with his "Welcome to Sarajevo," Winterbottom does best when he satirizes institutions of society. Here, the director takes pot shots at Britain's socialized medicine to great effect. The first doctor Nick sees refuses to tell him the dread diagnosis, and as a result Nick gets into a minor accident with his car and delays further treatment unnecessarily. Worse, one of the doctors eats a sandwich while speaking with him of the illness, tells him his records got lost, and orders him not to report back for further testing for four weeks.

The sexual activity between Nick and Karen is as graphic as it is great to see, giving new resonance to the term "working stiff." The director also includes several panoramas of the winter bottoms of the men taking their hot showers.

The chemistry between Carlyle and Aubrey is palpable, Juliet Aubrey demonstrating the necessary working-class roughness while Carlyle persuasively defines Nick's increasing vulnerability. The bonhomie of Nick's circle is also portrayed well, his teammates shifting between continuing to treat Nick as one of the guys and showing pity for the young man. Neither as wrenching as Winterbottom's "Jude the Obscure" nor as realistic as his more recent "Welcome to Sarajevo," "Go Now" makes for involving theater with its dramatic portrayal of some of Britain's little people, Not Rated. Running Time: 88 minutes. (C) 1998 Harvey Karten

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