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Limbo (1999)

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From Time Out Film Guide

Audacious and ambitious even for Sayles, this starts, City of Hope-style, by tracing the connections between various inhabitants of an Alaskan coastal town on the verge of becoming a tourist trap. Gradually, country singer Mastrantonio and ex-fisherman Strathairn begin to put their painful pasts behind them as they embark on a relationship (though her damaged, resentful daughter Martinez is far from sure she wants to see yet another man in mom's life) - but then the seriously unexpected happens, forcing all three to question their priorities and to take risks. Stunningly acted and superbly shot (by Haskell Wexler), it is written, with Sayles' customary ear for vivid phrasing and telling details, as a meditation on man's desire to divorce himself not only from Nature but from his own true nature, imbuing the film with the intensity and rigour of an allegorical fable. And the ending truly makes you think about what you've just seen.

Author: GA

Time Out Film Guide

User reviews of this film

Technoguy said...

Posted on Feb 20 2008 11:34 With a John Sayles film you always get a thorough work out and the unexpected.This is a beautifully shot,beautifullyacted film,written and directed by Sayles.He builds a large gallery of characters,incluiding two lesbians,who loan their fishing boat out to Strathairn.He has had accidents in his life,one of which lead to the drowning of two men,while he was a fisherman.He is not tied down and meets an end-of the-line singer,Mastrantonio,who is singing in small bars and cabaret joints.She has just broken up a relationship to a musician and has a depressive daughter who self harms.Martinez,the daughter,is fed up with her mother's boyfriends,although she likes her latest,Stathairn,more.The setting of the Alaskan town is in the wilderness,the roads go nowhere,and one step off can get you lost or dead.The last half of the film is structured around a boat trip,his dubious brother has asked him to go on.He is in trouble with drug dealers who are after him due to a misplaced shipment of dope.Strathairn unknowingly goes on this 'business' trip asking the mother and daughter along too.After surviving a storm they head into an inlet and moor the boat.However the brother is shot by criminals and the threesome escape to live on an island.They survive on very little:sea cucumber,sea weed and catch the odd fish.The rain is torrential,so they hole up in a disused shack.They light fires every day and the daughter reads from an old diary she has found every night.They are literally in a state of Limbo,cut off from everything.They light smoke fires to alert passing aircraft,little knowing the outcome as the criminals have sent a look-out plane to search for them.As the plane descends you are never sure if this is their pursuers or a rescue attempt.Devastating.

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