LIMBO
Writer/director, John Sayles gives "Limbo" an art house ending that rivals Michaelangelo Antonioni’s enigmatic "Blow Up" from the mid sixties. Antonioni does it with an image of a man who no longer deals with life in realistic terms, while Sayles ends his story with a statement about emotional commitment that is thematically more important to him than tying all the loose ends together. The idea of an abstract idea taking precedence over the linear structure is the one thing both endings have in common. This idea is the modus operandi that typifies Antonioni’s films, but not Sayle’s movies. "Matewan," "City of Hope," and "Eight Men Out," to name a few of his pictures, are grounded in a story tradition that is abruptly abandoned by the end of "Limbo." At best, I felt cheated.
"Limbo" has the all traits associated with a John Sayles film. He paints a picture of Port Henry, Alaska in broad strokes introducing an assortment of characters with a common history in small vignettes that establish a sense of time and place. The locals talk about the good old days, the entrepreneurs hope to establish a wild life theme park, and a local cannery represents the decimation of a way of life. The good old days will never come back, a theme park seems like an Alaskan pipe dream, and the cannery might be on it’s way out. The fishin’ ain’t what it useta’ be. The future is uncertain and there’s no turning back. Everyone, in essence, is in a state of limbo.
Characters are soon tossed to the wayside in order of their unimportance. Three people emerge at the core of "Limbo"s story. Each is scarred by some dark secret or fear that has left them floundering. Joe (David Straithairn), a one time fisherman, now jack-of-all-trades, develops a thing for Donna ( Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a night club singer who couldn’t do any better than Port Henry for the summer season. Her teen age daughter (Vanessa Martinez) pays for the sins of her mother by mutilating herself. The kid needs attention. The mother is self absorbed. And Joe has nothing better to do but get to know them. Somehow they connect and struggle to escape from their emotional stasis.
I’d feel terribly guilty for revealing some of the plot twists that lead to the second half of the movie. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have too much to do with the first part. The one link is the presence of one character who holds the key to the hole in Joe’s psyche. Sayles abandons the patch quilt of personalities with all their quirks and peccadilloes that made the first half of "Limbo" so rewarding. He embarks on a Gilligan’s Island venture with the trappings of a thriller. It is so far out of whack with the rest of the movie I felt like I was transported to an alternate consciousness with the same set of characters. Joe and the ladies go on a boat trip with Joe’s half brother who pops into the movie like a refugee from a short story by Ernest Hemingway. You know everyone’s going to pay for his sins. Joe is left stranded in the wilderness with Donna and her daughter. Will they survive? In John Sayles’ new school of thought, it doesn’t matter. There in lies the rub. This is not "Robinson Crusoe." The question becomes, not one of survival, but of commitment. Will they all be able to help each other escape from their own personal limbo? With that question in mind, John Sayles leaves the audience in limbo.
These are the pictures Sayles wrote to finance the ones he made:
"Piranha" (1978) - Tongue-in-cheek spoof of "Jaws" and every summer camp movie ever made.
"Alligator" (1980) - Another tongue-in-cheek horror gem that pays homage to Norton from "The Honeymooners" TV show. He worked his magic in the sewer just like the title character. With Robert Forster from "Jackie Brown."
"Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980) - A sci-fi rip off of "The Magnificent Seven" or "The Seven Samurai" depending on your point of view.
"The Howling" (1980) - A first class werewolf movie about a coven of wolves trying to get by in the world of humans. With one of the great endings of all time!
David Strathhairn appears in these must see films written and directed by John Sayles
"Return of the Secaucus Seven" (1979) - A low budget precursor to "The Big Chill." Screenplay won The Los Angeles Film Critics award and got an Oscar nomination.
"The Brother from Another Planet" (1984) - Joe Morton is a mute Negro Alien who lands in Harlem with two intergalactic cops after him. Deals with social issues in a creative and imaginative way.
"Matewan" (1987) - Labor, management, and the Pinkertons in the West Virginia coal mines of the 20’s. Awesome recreation of time and place. Chris Cooper is the union organizer who tries to get the miners their due. David Strathairn is the sheriff.
"Eight Men Out" (1988) - Another awesome recreation of time and place. One of the great baseball films of all time with an all star cast. About the 1919 Black Sox scandal where eight players threw a world series game for some hard cold cash. With John Cusack, D.B. Sweeney, and Charlie Sheen among others. Sayles cast himself as baseball writer Ring Lardner.
"Passion Fish" (1992) - A paralyzed opera singer returns home to make everybody’s life miserable until a nurse puts her in her place. Better than it sounds. With Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, and Curtis Vondie Hall.