Limbo ***1/2
rated R Screen Gems starring Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, David Strathairn, Vanessa Martinez, Kris Kristofferson, Casey Siemaszko written and directed by John Sayles
Not many notice it, but American cinema wouldn't be the same without someone like John Sayles. While many low-budget filmmakers do their dirty work and move on to bigger things, Sayles sticks with his roots and keeps on making films that are personal, important, very independent, and most of all, extremely good.
John Sayles got his directing start in 1980 with "Return Of The Secaucus 7", an ensemble piece that supposedly inspired "The Big Chill". He then moved onward, past "City Of Hope" and "Eight Men Out", to his classic, 1996's "Lone Star"; a tale of a soft-spoken sheriff uncovering a dark past. Sayles followed that up with last year's underrated Spanish-language drama "Men With Guns". The man's latest work is "Limbo", a remarkable, if uneven, independent film that is too unique to fit into any specific genre.
Like all John Sayles films, "Limbo" takes a while to get going, as we meet the two protagonists living in Alaska; America's final frontier. Donna De Angelo (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is a folksy singer (a la Mare Winningham in "Georgia") whom we first see at a wedding ceremony in which she is performing for the last time with her ex-boyfriend (one of many, we are told). Donna's cynical, self-mutilating daughter Noelle (Vanessa Martinez) is working as a waitress for the caterer. Donna begs for a ride home with her daughter's employer, a quiet, secretive man named Joe Gastineau (David Strathairn).
Inevitably, a relationship begins, but just when you think things couldn't get any simpler, a few complications arise. As it turns out, Joe never used to be such a quiet man; that is until he let two of his friends drown in a fishing accident a few years back. However, Joe has started to fish again, just as his estranged half-brother, Bobby (Casey Siemaszko), returns to Alaska. Bobby asks Joe to accompany him on a "fishing trip", for reasons that he cannot disclose. Mistakenly, he asks Donna and Noelle to join them, their best laid plans go very awry, and they end up in "limbo", called so because "It sure ain't heaven and it's too cold to be hell."
David Strathairn, a character actor who made his debut in Sayles' "Return Of The Secaucus 7" comes into his own here as the typical John Sayles' antihero (a soft-spoken, simple-looking maze of a man). Mastrantonio (who does all her own singing) is more showy, and just as good. The action hits a little to quickly in "Limbo", and there are bits of throwaway dialogue, but it is another great achievement for Sayles.
It is the ending of "Limbo", however, that will cause the most backlash. In a very daring move, John Sayles has given "Limbo" an open ending. Those who read my "eXistenZ" review will know that I enjoy open endings more than the average person, and in "Limbo", it works wonders. The ending provoked a collective groan from the none-too-kind audience, but I thought it to be a move of pure genius. By cutting out one second of film, Sayles shows the audience the difference between a Hollywood happy ending and a realistic, inevitable truth.
John Sayles, the most gifted of filmmakers, grips us to the story and then makes us the characters. Realism has never been more thought-provoking. The groan of the audience just goes to show how involved we are by the end of the film. A landmark moment for John Sayles, the messenger of independent film.
a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://www.angelfire.com/mo/film
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