Limbo (1999)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

How sad is this?

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

john Sayles has before, just not this time, lived up to the artistic (and poetic and melodic) heights (or at least sights) of the references he cites: to Tom Waits, to Richard Thompson. Man is larger than the tragedies he endures. Man is smaller than the oceans that swallow him. Man (who is a hunter or a fisherman and provider for his fellow man for a fair profit) is larger than man (who is a vulture living off the weakness and sorrow of his neighbor). Good is better than evil (in most cases) - unless you (e.g., Mary Elizabeth) can't really sing, and you shouldn't be singing Tom Waits or Richard Thompson. You think it's cute that you only wear "clothes," and never wear "gear"; therefore, you have an excuse to never face the mountainous enormity of the mistakes you've made in your life that pollute the lives of others (like your daughter). But that is not cute or good; even though your daughter is kind of cool (even if she can't pronounce "hors d'oeuvres" and she is a little messed up).

If many of your great cinematic experiences have been found on the Lifetime channel or maybe the Halmark channel then you might like this movie. It has a very distinct made-for-TV feel to it. The only difference is there are a few strong swear words here and there.The acting is sub par, the story isn't all that interesting. There is a flat romance, a guy with a tragedy in his past and some mother-daughter tension and thats about it. Until the end when some "evil drug dealers" appear on the scene in an attempt to create some tension, which I personally found only laughable. Calling this movie a "thriller" is a bit misleading.Overall, a very dull and forgettable film. It isn't worth the 2 hours it takes to get through to the "clever" ending.

I was going to finish my summary thought but I thought I'd be more like this movie.Why were we introduced so so many characters only to have them left as incomplete parts? I'm no stranger to bleak story lines, and a little imagination is good for a movie, but why the hell are we watching a movie if we have to imagine more than 50% of the plot? The characters were interesting but the second half of the movie never needed to happen. They could have continued with the characters that were starting to show development, instead, someone felt that developing characters, and giving them actual story arcs was a bad idea. They decided to do the right thing and sacrifice any hopes of a decent drama for some misguided artistic vision.I'm only giving this movie 3 stars because the partially developed characters held my interest while they existed.

This is a movie that does not let you know where it is going, but you enjoy the entire trip. I am unfamiliar with the director, John Sayles, and the male lead, David Strathairn, is one of those actors you will recognize.... from somewhere, but perhaps not recall where. He and the female lead, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, were superb, as were Vanessa Martinez, playing Mastrantonio's daughter, and Kris Kristopherson does well as ambigous figure you don't know whether to like or loathe.The characters presented are all real, all believable, all well defined, yet none defined easily as stereotyped cardboard cutouts.Strathairn deserved an Acadamy Award nomination for his role. After renting dozens of disappointing films it is truly satisfying to stumble on on this good. The surprise is that the film got so little backing at the time and went nowhere in the box office.