Limbo

A small town in Alaska where the fishing has gone and tourism is trying to replace it. Joe, who lost people in a boat accident years ago and has not gone back on the water since, meets Donna, a singer newly arrived in town, and her daughter Noelle. Then the three of them end up stranded on an uninhabited island because of business his brother has got mixed up in. John Sayles moves the film forward by changing genre: first a portrait of a town, then a relationship drama, finally a survival story. On the island the three of them have nothing to do but tell each other their pasts. What gets discussed most is the ending. Sayles cuts the story at a moment of complete uncertainty and declines to say what happened, a choice that split audiences at the time. David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Vanessa Martinez lead. Who it is for: viewers who like American independent film and open endings. Who it is not for: anyone who needs closure.