Limbo **
Rated on a 4-star scale Screening venue: Cornerhouse (Manchester) Released in the UK by Columbia TriStar on January 21, 2000; certificate 15; 126 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by John Sayles; produced by Maggie Renzi. Written by John Sayles. Photographed by Haskell Wexler; edited by John Sayles.
CAST..... David Strathairn..... Joe Gastineau Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio..... Donna De Angelo Vanessa Martinez..... Noelle De Angelo Casey Siemaszko..... Bobby Gastineau Kris Kristofferson..... Smilin' Jack Kathryn Grody..... Frankie Rita Taggart..... Lou
"The nights aren't that long this time of year," a man named Joe says, which suggests that it is summertime. But the surroundings are dull and damp, as they would be in autumn, and Joe and his companions are shivering and worrying about pneumonia, as they would be in winter. This sense of confusion persists throughout John Sayles's "Limbo", in which nothing ever really seems definite. How intentional the mood is, I'm not sure. I do know that it makes for depressing cinema.
"Limbo" takes place around a small Alaskan fishing community, where big businessman have begun to exploit the landscape as a sort of giant theme park for elderly tourists, who want to see the wilderness, but want it tame. One tour guide even takes vacationers into a nondescript local tavern, to talk of its "local significance". They click their cameras, muttering and pointing, as if they are in a museum, and the locals are exhibits.
Those locals have come to the bar to drown their sorrows. There is no longer any great demand for the fish their area produces, so its cannery has been shut down, and all its workers laid off. The workers react with neither anger nor attempts at positive thinking; they just seem to hang around, confused, not knowing what to do.
Sayles, the writer and director, spends time exploring the politics and hierarchy of this locale, then selects three main characters and uses them to veer off into another direction. The underlying sense of uncertainty is even present in the characterisations of these people: Joe (David Strathairn) was once a bright and successful chap, who lost a lot of his nerve in an accident at sea, and may or may not have recovered. Donna (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), his girlfriend, is a low-rent singer who can't decide whether to be a mouthy bitch or a sweet and caring lady. Her daughter, Noelle (Vanessa Martinez), is going through a bout of depression that may be typical teenage angst, or may be something more sinister.
As the result of plot happenings that are not really relevant here, this trio find themselves stranded on a miserable, freezing little island, possibly pursued by murderous gangsters. After some initial terror, and worries about starving to death, Joe, Donna and Noelle simply gather edible matter, and firewood, and do what they can to survive. There's no high drama; everything keeps unfolding as vague inactivity.
I suspect this is the intention, judging by the film's title and its cryptic ending. Or perhaps the film was loaded with symbolism that I just didn't pick up on. "Limbo" is certainly not engaging on a straight dramatic level -- if Sayles wanted the material to be taken that way, he would have depicted the situation with more raw, menacing detail. Instead, no event seems as important in itself than as in terms of some bigger picture; the story is constantly moving on, as if to some grand thematic payoff. The payoff never comes, and that's the point. We're left in limbo.
This is very watchable: Strathairn, Mastrantonio and Martinez are intense performers, and the cinematographer, Haskell Wexler, is a fascinating mixer of realistic brightness and rich colours. But "Limbo" is pretty much impossible to like, as it deliberately sets out to leave the audience unsatisfied.
Next week I'll be reviewing "American Beauty", the current front-runner to win the Oscar as best picture of the year. I'll be recommending that film because it carefully studies isolation, loneliness and alienation; "Limbo", on the other hand, creates such feelings. One character says she knows she's in limbo because "it sure ain't heaven and it's too cold to be hell". Not a worthwhile experience, then. Sayles should have remembered that before making this movie.
COPYRIGHT(c) 2000 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Please visit, and encourage others to visit, the UK Critic's website, which is located at http://members.aol.com/ukcritic
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews