Limbo

Traumatized by a fishing boat accident many years before, Joe Gastineau has given up his hopes for a life beyond the odd jobs he takes to support himself. That quickly changes when nomadic club singer Donna de Angelo and her troubled teen-age daughter enter Joe’s life. Both mother and daughter fall for Joe, increasing the friction between them. The tension continues to build when Joe invites them on a pleasure cruise up the Alaskan coast, discovering too late that the trip may cost them their lives.

**_The challenges of life on the remote coast of the Great Northwest_** A handyman in an isolated coastal town of Southeast Alaska (David Strathairn) meets a singer (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) while considering getting back to the ocean as a fisherman. He takes the woman and her daughter (Vanessa Martinez) on a boat trip up the coast where things don’t go as planned. Written/directed by John Sayles, "Limbo" (1999) is a drama that becomes a gritty adventure and character study. After the dramatic set-up, the milieu is similar to “Out of Control” (1984) and “The Edge” (1997), just way more mundane and realistic. “Nightmare at Bittercreek” (1988) and "Anything to Survive" (1990) are good comparisons, although this is far superior to the latter. "Courage" (2009) ripped it off a decade later for a far lesser movie hampered by eye-rolling dramatics and hammy acting. The ending may understandably turn-off some viewers, but Sayles respects the intelligence of the viewer to put the pieces together. The answers are there for those who care. The movie runs 2 hours, 6 minutes, and was shot in Juneau, Alaska. GRADE: A-