Limbo

Limbo, a 1999 film by John Sayles has an open conclusion which I immediately dislike but I didn't have to watch for the anti-climactic ending to come down on the other side of liking this film. It was slow, and maybe television has ruined me for films as I aspect things to happen quickly so the problem can be resolved within the hour time limit. Nothing seemed to happen and too many things were introduced and never followed through with. The back story of the main character could have made an interesting film however it was pushed aside for some weird survivor story. David Strathairn does nothing the entire time and is boring to watch. I loved him in Good Night and Good Luck but he was actually acting in that film. In Limbo he just sits there looking glum but doesn't portray anything that is remotely interesting. The only exciting reveal was that the daughter was making up the story she was reading in the journal which I knew was going to happen so that took away from the excitement anyways. I also don't really know how she got sick, a hole in the script there. All of a sudden she's deadly sick and could possibly die. IMDb describes it as:

'Unconventional narrative about the interactions amongst a group of people in a small town in Alaska, each of whom has guards a secret.'

This film could have been about so many things; the fishing industry in Alaska, an ex-fisherman overcoming his past to fish again, or even a complicated love triangle between ex-fisherman and a mother and daughter. All of these eventual narratives were begun in some way or other but never followed through leaving us with plots of several different narratives going nowhere all in one film. The icing on this particular cake is the open ending which I cannot stand in films. I don't mind a film making me think about things but I have come for a story that should traditional have a beginning a middle and an end. This film gives me a story where the last page has been ripped out forcing me to draw my own conclusion as to whether or not our three fated protagonist get off the island or die. It begs the question 'did they just run out of money? Or are they just lazy?' 

Now it was pointed out to me that the title of the film is 'Limbo' which would lead to an assumption that this is a plausible ending for a film of that title and I really have no defense of that except I hate it and won't be watching it again and it has really not endeared me to John Sayles either.