There are a couple of scenes in "Limbo" that rank among the best in any of John Sayles's films. Compassionate and heartfelt, I'm thinking mostly of a few quietly restrained encounters between the two leads (played to sensitive perfection by David Strathairn and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
What a disappointment, then, that the sum of "Limbo" turns out to be a much lesser achievement than its parts. At least half of this film belongs in another movie, including a interesting but extranious subplot about a quirly lesbian couple, and even the much-talked about survival story which dominates the whole second half.
Sayles is obviously trying to confund our expectations and leave us hanging (in Limbo perhaps). That's fine--the ending sure does it in a big way! But from a thematic standpoint: What is Sayles really doing? He's crafted some of his most finely nuanced characters here. Why does he insist on driving them along this limbo-ridden jagged road? Why does a story so simple and beautiful have to be interrupted by a bunch of murderous drug thugs?
Sayles might say that's the point of "Limbo." I say that's a lazy answer.
What a disappointment, then, that the sum of "Limbo" turns out to be a much lesser achievement than its parts. At least half of this film belongs in another movie, including a interesting but extranious subplot about a quirly lesbian couple, and even the much-talked about survival story which dominates the whole second half.
Sayles is obviously trying to confund our expectations and leave us hanging (in Limbo perhaps). That's fine--the ending sure does it in a big way! But from a thematic standpoint: What is Sayles really doing? He's crafted some of his most finely nuanced characters here. Why does he insist on driving them along this limbo-ridden jagged road? Why does a story so simple and beautiful have to be interrupted by a bunch of murderous drug thugs?
Sayles might say that's the point of "Limbo." I say that's a lazy answer.