Limbo (Movie)

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    ‘Limbo’ Review: Pensive in the Outback

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    Long on atmosphere and short on plot, this stylish Australian noir pulls through thanks to a haunted performance by Simon Baker.Those who know Simon Baker only as the sleek title character on the TV series “The Mentalist” might do a double take when they discover his Travis, a stern detective sent out to close a 20-year-old cold case in Ivan Sen’s “Limbo.” Projecting an austere, old-fashioned gravitas, the actor calmly stitches conventional markers from the Genre 101 textbook (drug habit, terseness, tattoos, broken relationships) into a whole that feels organic and lived in.Archetypes are very much on the mind of Sen, an Indigenous Australian filmmaker whose best-known movies, “Mystery Road” (2013) and “Goldstone” (2018), are often called neo-noir, though they’re equally neo-western. At its best, his work lays bare his country’s poisoned roots in striking tableaux. Here, Travis tries to figure out what happened to a First Nations girl who went missing in the titular desert mining town — the movie was shot in Coober Pedy, a surreal outpost where many facilities, including pubs and hotels, are underground, creating a feeling of simultaneous openness and claustrophobia. But the solving of the mystery takes a back seat to Travis’s relationship with the girl’s siblings, Charlie (Rob Collins) and Emma (Natasha Wanganeen), who must navigate their distrust.Sen, who also handled both the black-and-white cinematography and the editing, has a terrific eye for shot composition and sets a deliberate pace that feels implacable rather than merely slow. Tellingly, “Limbo” is more effective in building atmosphere than in plotting, but it’s hard not to want to know more about the haunted people we barely got to meet.LimboNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Limbo’ Review: A Musician in Exile Tunes Out

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      A Syrian refugee deposited on a remote Scottish isle seeks meaning in his isolated surroundings, with wryly funny results.Most of the films we’ve seen about the migrant and refugee situation in Europe in recent years are gritty, often heartbreaking dramas and documentaries. “Limbo,” written and directed by a ferociously talented filmmaker, Ben Sharrock, takes an insinuating, poetic and often wryly funny approach. And it’s both heartbreaking and heartlifting.Amir El-Masry plays Omar, a young Syrian man seeking asylum in Britain. He and a group of other male refugees have been deposited on a remote Scottish island while their applications are processed. How remote? A scene early in the movie shows Omar in a phone booth, speaking to his mother, as a couple of other men wait for him to complete his conversation. They all own cellphones, but there are no bars. (The movie was shot in the Outer Hebrides.)There are, however, “Cultural Awareness” classes, taught by two comically stilted instructors who mime close dancing (to a Hot Chocolate song) to demonstrate social dos and don’ts when interacting with the women of Europe.Omar’s estrangement is multileveled. In his homeland he was a celebrated musician, a player of the oud, a type of lute. So was his father, who is now in Istanbul with Omar’s mother, and playing in the street for change. Omar hasn’t touched his instrument because he’s had one hand in a cast since leaving his homeland. When the cast comes off, he tunes his oud, and worries that it doesn’t sound right.It’s not as if he doesn’t have boosters. One of his housemates, Farhad (Vikash Bhai), a fellow with two fanatical interests, those being chickens and Freddie Mercury, offers to be his manager, and endeavors to put book him “an evening of Syrian music.”“They put us out here in the middle of nowhere to try and break us,” one of Omar’s comrades complains. But there are other factors straining Omar. His brother stayed behind in Syria, to fight in its civil war. His parents pull him one way and another in their conversations. Omar takes long, aimless walks, carrying the oud he won’t play. The flat green fields and the big open sky frame his figure (the film is mostly presented in a boxy aspect ratio) to make his isolation seem constant.If you’ve spent any time in the Scottish isles, you know they’re places where time seems to stand still. The setting here constructs a powerful metaphor for the protagonist’s plight. With a pleasing bit of cinematic sleight-of-hand, the movie grows more expansive once Omar determines to expand his horizon.LimboRated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters. More