Limbo (1999)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Sayles

Writer (WGA):

John Sayles (written by)

Release Date:

4 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A condition of unknowable outcome

Plot:

Unconventional narrative about the interactions amongst a group of people in a small town in Alaska, each of whom has guards a secret.

Plot Keywords:

Alaska | Island | Singer | Mother Daughter Relationship | Dead Father

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	...	Donna De Angelo
David Strathairn	...	'Jumpin' Joe Gastineau
Vanessa Martinez	...	Noelle De Angelo
Hermínio Ramos	...	Ricky
Kris Kristofferson	...	'Smilin' Jack Johannson
Dawn McInturff	...	Audrey
Casey Siemaszko	...	Bobby Gastineau
Kathryn Grody	...	Frankie
Tom Biss	...	Baines
Rita Taggart	...	Lou
Leo Burmester	...	Harmon King
Michael Laskin	...	Albright
Jimmy MacDonell	...	Randy Mason
Mérit Carlson-van Dort	...	Stacy
Monica Brandner	...	Corky

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Singapore:PG | USA:R (certificate #36465) | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 | New Zealand:M | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

DIPAC Salmon Hatchery - 2697 Channel Drive, Juneau, Alaska, USA

Company:

Green/Renzi

Quotes:

Joe: Where are you living these days?
Jack: Two steps ahead of the finance company.

Soundtrack:

Better Off Without You

Life ain't fair.

Hi, my name is Slim and I just saw a movie about how just when you think life is going good and you got all the major stuff like food, money, and love dialed in and it's just about time you got comfortable with a six-pack of some cold longnecks WHAM! that cold-ass harlot Bad Luck cold cocks you one. Then the next thing you know you're stuck on some wet, dank, isolated-on-the-buttwipe-end Alaskan island with this gal you were just getting to know real well, not to mention her teenage daughter who's into self-mutilation and strange stories, and to top it all off some drug running nimrods who just got burned are looking for all your butts with their superduper peekaboo scoped rifle.

I'm talking about Limbo, made by the one of best directors who doesn't give a damn about Hollywood and does it his way all the time-John Sayles, and has one of my favorite babe actress-Mary Elizabeth Maistrantonio. It all takes place somewhere way up in Alaska where men are fisherman, women are fish cleaners, and the tourists are stupid fat Midwesterners. My babe Mary is this singer who just left her 51st, or 63rd, or 102nd guy and goes right after her 52nd or 64th or whatever, who is this guy who used to be a fisherman but due to 'unforeseen circumstances' isn't one now. But since way up there in fish country winters are long and women are scarce and fish just don't last all winter he decides she is all right, and besides she is Mary Elizabeth Maistrantonio. Anyway, he and she and the teenage daughter decide to go for a boat ride, so off they go along with his long-lost half-brother who decides to pull a con on his half-bro and use him as a bodyguard for some stupid pigheaded easy money drug deal. But of course it ain't easy money, and so it's a man overboard and everyone swim for their life scene.

We got fish being cleaned, fish being shot, fish being canned, fish being fish, we got pretty postcard pictures of somewheres up in Alaska which looks like they got enough trees to build all of us a 5000 square foot house, we got losers in a bar with their own barstool, we got Robinson Crusoe only Friday is a babe and her daughter, and finally we got an ending that just goes to show that we don't really know what's going to happen in our lives.

Three and a half bright north stars. Go check it out but only if you want to watch a movie where when it's over you want to go back for more. Or else drop kick a size 12 metal toed boot to the rear of Sayles for ending the movie the way he did.