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starring: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, David Strathairn, Vanessa Martinez, Hermínio Ramos, Kris Kristoffersondirected by: John Sayles
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780767835947
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767835948
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: June 13, 2000
Running Time: 127 minutes
Sales Rank: 11220
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: June 04, 1999
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
There are three unforgettable characters in John Sayles's contemporary adventure-drama set in Alaska. They are never seen but live only in a frontier diary found by teenager Noelle De Angelo (Vanessa Martinez). The life of the diary's narrator is much like everything in this movie: hanging in limbo. The first half of the film focuses on why men and woman turn to Alaska, a land still ripe with opportunity. A small town is at a crossroads, with its pulp mill and canning factory closed and new investors seeing different directions in which to take the area (one even boasts the state is the ultimate theme park). A local (Sayles regular David Strathairn) is just escaping his past, taking up commercial fishing again. He attracts a traveling nightclub singer (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in her best role in years) who struggles daily with her daughter Noelle. Like any good theme park, Limbo presents the threesome with an unexpected adventure. In the wilderness, the three relative strangers learn more about themselves than was ever possible in town. Sayles's usual craftsmanship creates a singular blend of drama and suspense with an ending designed to ruffle feathers. Not as accessible as his breakthrough hit Lone Star, Limbo is nevertheless a hearty film from one of America's best storytellers. --Doug Thomas
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Another John Sayles Gem
God love and protect John Sayles. Not because he hits every ball out of the park, because he clearly doesn't; but because he never lets his few strikeouts compel him to try to hit a five-run homer the next time out. In an era marked by increasingly degraded and degrading notions of "entertainment" and "storytelling" - for pity's sake, as I write this, grown adults are waxing rhapsodic over a movie about a costumed billionaire-vigilante (!!) - Sayles understands that great drama is about the people ... Read More
Rating: - Powerful and emotional movie
Some have dissed the ending, finding it unsatisfying, but in my opinion, that's exactly what John Sayles wanted to accomplish with this ending, IMO.
The people gave in to the situation and accepted their fate, good or bad.
As many critics have pointed out, tension without resolution was built up and up throughout the movie. They claim that this was the mark of an incompetent director. I disagree.
I believe that Sayers wanted to convey the feelings (frustration, ... Read More
Rating: - Well-acted character driven drama (loved the ending)
I just saw this again (3rd or 4th time) after finding it on HBO. I once owned the videotape until I upgraded.
David Strathairn as Joe Gastineau is laconic, stoic, but still emotional. His character truly comes alive as a man you can understand. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Donna De Angelo captures the essence of her aging-bar-crooning character and the interaction between her, her teen daughter Noelle (deftly played by Vanessa Martinez), and Gastineau was developed to draw your interest. ... Read More
Rating:  - Neither Heaven or Hell...wish it would have been either!
"Limbo"....not Heaven, and not Hell, but somewhere in the lifeless in-between....waiting....for what?
That is how John Sayle's "Limbo" comes to the screen with majestic rivers and mountains of Alaska, and a cast of characters that are stuck between their past and future, uncomfortable in their existence in the present. All very high-minded and torturous to watch for 122 minutes. What did I like about this film?....Broadway Tony-nominated star Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio allowed to sing three ... Read More
Rating:  - Make up your own ending
I got interested in this movie and had to finish it. Good actors, good acting, good story and sympathetic characters. I had to finish this movie just to see these poor people rescued from that bone-chilling cold. And the daughter, sick, needing medical attention, "reading" from a diary she found.
I wish someone could have warned me about the ending. So some people consider this "arty?" How someone could watch a movie like this over and over is beyond me but that is just my own opinion. If ... Read More
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