Limbo
|
Our Price: $15.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.03 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Limbo
Movie Review: SAYLES SAILS AWAY
Summary: 4 Stars
John Sayles's LIMBO was presented in 1999 at the Cannes Film Festival and ignored by the international critics. So, if you don't live in Paris, France or in the U.S.A., the only way to view this picture is to buy the DVD presented by Columbia Tri-Star. Furthermore, you will have, as a bonus feature, a commentary of director John Sayles. And that's a hell of a bonus ! As always, John Sayles's screenplay is way over the average Hollywood screenplays we have to bear all year long, but that's not a surprise for those of you who've admired such great movies as PASSION FISH or LONE STAR.
A DVD dedicated to the independent ones.
Movie Review: A quiet film that lingers in the heart.
Summary: 4 Stars
Not for everyone, this film. If you insist on tidy Hollywood-style endings, you should pass this one up. If, however, you enjoy a story that tells of the evolution of human relationships in extraordinary circumstances, and you're willing to reflect on a rather unconventional ending before passing judgement, give this one a try. The commentary by John Sayles seems refreshingly free of self-absorption, and only adds to the appreciation of his story-telling magic.Movie Review: Limbo
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first film I've seen that really captures the true image of what an Alaskan fishing village is really like. The characters in the film were so much like the people that live where I live. I passed this film around town and everyone agreed! It was like watching our own town. the story starts out a little weak, but by midway thru you are gripped. My jaw dropped at the end! I sent this to all of my relatives in the lower 48. An excellent sleeper!Movie Review: promising disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars
Patience may be a requisite for enjoying "Limbo," the latest opus from John Sayles, a filmmaker who always challenges the limits of commercial moviemaking and who values the art of storytelling in his films as much as visual design. His movies are not for all tastes, however, and much of his latest film seems languid and unfocused, even though it is filled with fine performances, beautiful majestic vistas of the Alaskan wilderness and an audacious assumption that the audience need not be "wowed" in the first fifteen minutes to ensure their continued interest.As with most of his films, Sayles employs a novelistic approach, patiently gathering the strands of his story together as he introduces us to each of his various characters. Slowly, almost leisurely, we get to meet the people who occupy this Alaskan town as they take their place upon the canvas Sayles has painted. Some emerge as major players in the tale; some burst forth for a brief moment then recede to the background. The main characters include a former fisherman, guilt ridden by the deaths of two of his friends while on a boat outing and an aging club singer, desperately attempting to cope with a failing career, a succession of loser boyfriends, and a deeply troubled teenaged daughter who barely tolerates her mother and who abuses herself by cutting gashes into her arms as a cry for understanding and some stability in her life.
One of the problems with the narrative is that Sayles sets up a set of other characters and conflicts around these three main players, yet virtually drops them all when the three of them become stranded on an uninhabited island and the focus shifts entirely to them. Unfortunately, neither the singer, Donna De Angelo (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), nor her daughter, Noelle (Vanessa Martinez), nor, especially, the fisherman, Joe Gastineau (David Strathairn), are sufficiently interesting in themselves to carry the weight of the whole drama. What we lose is the richness provided by the Alaskan locals, be they fish canners suddenly left unemployed by the closing of a local plant, the tourist representative and the logging industry leader who clash over the age old issue of commerce vs. environment, or the endless stream of geriatric tourists drifting by in the background creating a surreal image for the foreground drama. These are the elements that rivet our attention and it is just these elements that evaporate in the second half of the film. The conventional family-relations drama we are left with provides insufficient compensation.
Special note should be taken, however, of Mastrantonio's finely fleshed out interpretation of a mother struggling to come to grips with a myriad of problems and frustrations and just trying to find some personal peace and fulfillment in her world. Strathairn, however, underplays his role so excessively that he often appears invisible in the film. As the daughter, Martinez is winning and effective.
The movie also tacks on a silly lady-or-the-tiger ending that, in the context of a more meaningful, daring film, might have been audacious and thoughtprovoking. Open-ended finales work well when they reflect some inner conflict that can not be fully resolved by a character. In this case, however, the toss-up ending merely involves a plot gimmick so it smacks of either last minute lack of inspiration or, (a more sinister possibility) simple authorial smugness.
All in all, "Limbo" emerges as one of John Sayles's lesser cinematic achievements.
Movie Review: Well, That Was ALMOST An Excellent Film!
Summary: 3 Stars
I can't believe I just read through 75 reviews! Just goes to show, when you watch this film, you don't simply say "oh well" and flip the channel. That said, it seems to me that at least 90% of those reviews are off-target.On the one hand, the half that are one-star can mostly be ignored. As with all John Sayles' movies, this is a slow-paced but involving story that anchors you into a "place-and-time crossroads": Alaska, as traditional industry jobs are vanishing and being replaced by tourism's less-satisfying service jobs. As always, Sayles weaves a community before your eyes, in this case, a community of people struggling to redefine themselves. Three characters rise to be the leads: they are fascinatingly and heartbreakingly human. Assuming that you like thoughtful movies, you will find yourself immersed, and then, as the title implies, suspended, exactly as the director intends. With all of that, this movie is definitely an involving experience.
Now, if that sounds interesting to you, fine, give it a spin. You'll be intrigued, and will understand why there are 75 screamingly polarized reviews here for such a small film. If it sounds dull, or depressing, it probably will be: skip it. And if you've never seen a John Sayles movie before, this isn't the one to start with: go rent "Lone Star", which satisfies on as many levels as Sayles ever chooses to go. (BTW, you will never find an upbeat, fast-paced, movie-movie Sayles film. He just doesn't do that.)
If you haven't seen the film, stop reading here.
OK, now for all those five-star reviews: nonsense. And as to the condescending POV that, if you don't like this you must have been looking for a Schwarzenegger ending: well, bite me.
This idea that, since "what would happen next" was either of two choices and both were trite, so just leave it to the viewer to choose between the two trite endings... what crap! YES, by stopping there, that is exactly what we're left with: romanticism or nihilism.
That's the point: THE MOVIE SHOULDN'T HAVE STOPPED THERE. They should have survived, obviously: otherwise, why bother filming the movie? Just stick a note in the DVD case saying, "Life sucks", and a handgun to end it all.
They should have returned to the town, plugged back into the story, begun their attempt to trust again together in Joe's house, and... then what? I don't know, cuz I'm not the writer. But surely there would have been a way to leave these characters with open, even ambiguous futures, while still not simply abandoning the story.
A lesser writer would never have gotten us to that beach. But a better writer (and Sayles at his best is one of our finest writers) would never have resorted to such a lazy tactic to leave us in "Limbo". Understand, it was HIS CHOICE to veer the plot midway (and btw, in retrospect? The introduction of the brother and drug dealers and all of that was really contrived). If he ran into this either/or boxed-in choice between two bad endings, he should have thrown the entire "strand them" twist into the garbage can, and rewrote.
IMO, Sayles will look back on this project and realize that he simply ran out of juice. A shame, since this is one of his finest setups for a film, and definitely, three of his finest and most sympathetic characters.