Taglines: A condition of unknowable outcome.
Limbo tells the story of people trying to reinvent themselves in the Southeastern islands of Alaska. The story revolves around Joe Gastineau, a fisherman traumatised by an accident at sea years before, singer Donna de Angelo and her disaffected daughter Noelle who come into Joe’s life. When Joe’s fast-talking half-brother Bobby returns to town and asks Joe for a favor, the lives of the characters are changed forever.
Limbo is a 1999 drama film written, produced, edited, and directed by American independent filmmaker John Sayles. The drama features Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, David Strathairn, Vanessa Martinez and Kris Kristofferson. It is the first theatrical film to be released and distributed by Sony ScreenGems.
About the Story
The film is set in fictional Port Henry, Alaska, a town undergoing stress as the local economy switches from an industrial one based around the canning and paper industries towards a tourism and leisure based model. Joe Gastineaux (David Strathairn) is a former high school basketball star and fisherman who quit fishing after some undisclosed tragedy. He now works as a handyman, particularly for Frannie and Lou, a lesbian couple who own the local resort hotel. Joe is friends with teenager Noelle De Angelo (Vanessa Martinez) who also works for Frankie and Lou.
At an event which they are working, Noelle’s mother Donna (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a lounge singer, breaks up with her live in boyfriend and asks Joe for help in moving. The two of them become close and eventually begin a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Joe gets the chance to return to fishing when Frankie and Lou ask him to work a fishing boat which they have acquired as collateral from local fisherman Harmon.
Donna has a strained relationship with her daughter Noelle, due mainly to Noelle’s disapproval of her mother’s peripatetic bohemian lifestyle. This is exacerbated when Donna begins dating Joe, who Noelle also had a crush on. At a bar Donna overhears the story of why Joe quit fishing: he had been involved in a deadly sinking which claimed the lives of all of his boatmates, including the brother of local bush pilot and small-time criminal “Smilin Jack” Johannson (Kris Kristofferson).
Things change when Joe’s dissolute half-brother Bobby shows up. He asks Joe to help crew his boat to pick up a client. Joe brings along Donna and Noelle. They dock for the night in an isolated bay and Bobby reveals the truth: Bobby had been involved in marijuana smuggling and had dumped a load overboard when he was spooked by the police. Now they are going to meet Bobby’s partners to settle up his debt.
Limbo (1999)
Directed by: John Sayles
Starring: David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Vanessa Martinez, Hermínio Ramos, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Taggart, Kathryn Grody, Dawn McInturff
Screenplay by: John Sayles
Production Design by: Gemma Jackson
Cinematography by: Haskell Wexler
Film Editing by: John Sayles
Costume Design by: Shay Cunliffe
Set Decoration by: Brian Kasch
Art Direction by: Keith Neely
Music by: Mason Daring
MPAA Rating: R for languageb
Distributed by: Sony ScreenGems
Release Date: June 4, 1999
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