Rose Troche has created a small gem of a movie with her feature length film debut, "Go Fish." Billed as a portrait of urban lesbian life in the '90s, the film follows two main characters, Max (played superbly by Guinevere Turner) and Ely (the shy V.S. Brodie) as they fall in love with the help of their group of lesbian friends.

I know what you may be thinking, and this is not some cheap dramatization of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland. What it is is a sharp, witty, candid and humorous look at what it's like to be a lesbian these days. While I cannot speak from personal experience about what it is like to be a lesbian in the '90s, the film confronts, draws out and discusses very openly such sterotypes of lesbians as butch or short-haired, combat-boot-wearing nose-ring-touting macho sluts.

The fear and ignorance many people experience around lesbians or homosexuals in general is eased in "Go Fish." By the end of the movie the barriers which have been built up around lesbians crumble and you see these women as people experiencing what it means to fall in love. The most provocative part about the film, and what makes the naive viewer overcome his or her initial omnipresent thought of "Everyone's a lesbian," is the original filming techniques Toche employs.

The film moves in a seamless fashion from pow-wow discussions involving the supporting cast to odd shots of hands and candles and lights fading in and out. The rest of the cast (T. Wendy McMillan as the professor Kia, Migdalia Melendez as Kia's lover, Evy, and the cavorting Daria, played by Anastasia Sharp) gossip about the progress of Max and Ely's romance. And I forgot to mention, the entire film is made in black and white.

The result is an honest and often hilarious discussion of the plot (the sort of discussion someone would have during the commercial breaks of a good movie on T.V.) juxtaposed with the symbolic representation of the actions which have taken place in the storyline. The result is a talking picture book of images and vioces which makes the documentary style of the film even more original.

Adding to this documentary tone is the unusual quality of the acting throughout "Go Fish." My first reaction upon seeing some of the scenes was, "Jeez, these women are bad actresses." And even though none of them have much, if any, acting experience, you soon forget about their acting ability and realize what you thought was bad line delivery is a picture of sincerity. When V.S. Brodie winks at the camera in one scene, you know you are looking at real people who have stepped into these roles and are having a good time with the camera.

In fact, the entire project as originally planned by Troche and Turner (yes, she is also a writer and producer as well as an actress), was only supposed to be run by women and more specifically, homosexual women. You get the feeling, which I think may in fact be true, that all of these women are people Troche and Turner knew before the film, that they are old friends who decided to come together to make a movie about themselves.

All this said, this is not a mainstream film by any means. But this is only because of the subject matter. Very few are the films made by and solely about lesbians. And lesbians in an honest light as opposed to the chauvinistic fantasy of two women having sex for his pleasure. Despite what they may be doing, said chauvinist still thinks they would prefer to have him, or gets off on the power he thinks he has over them. This film, I would say, will only be erotic for women who are sexually attracted to other women.

The first few times I saw V.S. Brodie on the screen, and especially after she cuts her hair, all I could think was how unattractive she was. This reviewer considers himself to be open to many different cinematic experiences. I mean, I loved the naturalistic tone of Harvey Kietel's body in the love scene of "The Piano." I don't mind watching less-than-attractive actors on the screen. But I had not realized how conditioned I was to expect only attractive women in leading roles. The magic and beauty of this film is that you forget what people look like, the fact that they may walk funny, even the fact that this is supposed to be an unusual type of love story, and instead you see them as normal people who love someone else who happens to be of their same sex.