Limbo
I saw writer-director John Sayles’ newest film today. It was called “Limbo.” It should have been called “Limp Dick.” The film is nothing more than a tease. Like great sex, it lathers you all up into a frenzy. Instead of reaching a climax, it becomes impotent, leaving you unfulfilled and angry.
I fully expected Sayles to roll over and apologize, claiming that this has never happened to him before. He would be lying. I used to be a big fan of John Sayles, but he has left me wanting with his last couple of efforts. “Lone Star” was grade-A boring, while “Limbo” leaves you with the impression that the filmmaker has completely lost his mind.
“Limbo” unravels like a leisurely stroll through the park, only intermittently interrupted by something interesting to look and or listen to. It is the sort of film that gives some film critics hard ons because it refuses to play by the rules. If stringing along an audience for two hours and five minutes and then leaving them high and dry is their idea of not playing by the rules, then by all means let’s play by the rules.
“Limbo” is such a frustrating film because up until that final few frames, it is an absorbing piece of filmmaking. It introduces to and then endears us to the central characters, giving them enough time to establish their presence in this universe. I don’t mind exposition, especially when someone like Sayles is feeding them the dialogue. If nothing else, Sayles is a master word smith, capable of taking mundane, everyday situations and breathing life into them.
However, after spending two hours with the characters who inhabit “Limbo” you want some sort of closure. Instead, Sayles totally abandons his characters and the audience with a finale that will leave most people pissed off. If most of the audience I saw the film with wasn’t over 80, I’m sure they would have swarmed the projection booth to burn the film. It’s hard to get walkers up stairs.
“Limbo” also proves that Sayles has seen and admires the television series “Northern Exposures.” Anyone familiar with the television show will recognize much of what goes on in “Limbo.”
The film takes place in Juneau, Alaska, and serves as a perfect metaphor for the people who live there. Here is a little town in the middle of nowhere which serves as a weigh station for individuals whose lives are in the same boat. People come here to escape from civilization, but end up putting their lives on hold, sort of like a deep freeze for souls.
One of the souls living in Juneau is Joe Gastineau (David Strathairn), a local boy whose shot at being a basketball star faded when he damaged his knee. Joe has been many things to many people in Juneau over the years, but now he works as a handyman for two lesbians building an Inn on some undeveloped property. Sullen, Joe pretty much keeps to himself, the result of a fishing accident that killed two friends and left him in debt both financially and mentally.
Joe is happy with his current situation, that is, until he meets singer Donna De Angelo (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Joe first meets Donna at a local wedding after she has broken up with the lead guitarist of a band (not the first, probably not the last). He gives her a ride to town, and in return she puts a sparkle in his eye.
Donna has a teenage daughter named Noelle (Vanessa Martinez, the best thing about the film) who is tired of mom’s merry-go-round relationships and just wants some stability in her life. She also has a crush on Joe, which she doesn’t mention until she learns that her mother is dating the handyman.
I liked the way Sayles introduces each of the characters, allowing their personalities to slowly emerge instead of shoving them down our throats. To that end, the film maintains a slower than average pace, yet one filled with plenty of observations. Except for one clumsy piece of story exposition (a bartender explaining what happened to Joe on that fateful night), the dialogue just sparkles.
Even the supporting characters, including Kris Kristofferson as the brother of one of the men killed in the boat accident seem real and purposeful. Sayles has always been a master of casting, and there isn’t a bad performance in the film.
The plot takes an unexpected twist when Joe agrees to help his brother, a supposedly successful charter fisherman (well played by Casey Siemaszko), meet a client up the coast. Joe invites Donna and Noelle along for the company, which turns out to be a big mistake. Complications find the trio shipwrecked on an island, where they are forced to fight for their survival.
It’s at this point in the film that Sayles raises the stakes in terms of character development. We learn so much about these three as they are forced to share each other’s company without the usual societal barriers. When Noelle finds a diary inside an abandoned shack and reads from it to entertain the others, you immediately sense that she is saying much more than the words printed on the page.
Up until this point in the film, I was really enjoying “Limbo,” so much so that I couldn’t wait to see how the film ended. Then it did. Literally. In a brazen move that only a filmmaker working in the independent arena could make, Sayles just ends the film. He leaves us hanging, forcing us to make up our own minds on what happens to the characters.
Guess what? I wasn’t wondering what happened to the characters. I was wondering how many different dirty names I could call Sayles in this review.
Sayles may have thought he was being innovative, or daring. Instead, his decision seems to shout that either Sayles didn’t trust his own material, or that he figured no matter what end he tacked on, it wouldn’t have lived up to what preceded it.
Either way, he totally lets the audience down, and that is the worse crime you can commit. Technically, “Limbo” looks great. The scenery is gorgeous, the soundtrack (including numerous musical numbers by Mastrantonio) inviting, and the direction vivid. The characters literally leap off the screen and become part of your life for two hours. Then they disappear like it was all a dream. A bad dream.
“LIMBO”: THE BIG CHILL
LIMBO
David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Vanessa Martinez, Casey Siemaszko, Kris Kristofferson in a film written and directed by John Sayles. Rated R. 127 Minutes.
LARSEN RATING: NONE
