Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU A strange little film about the frontier that has always fascinated Americans: the sea, nature, the winter, and many other things that come along when you are isolated and lost in the big vast chasm this natural wilderness may look like along the coast of the state of Washington. To give come depth to the story, the film builds on the characters. A mother, singer by profession, drifter by family life, and her daughter, lost and unstructured by that life of no stability since any man has to be abandoned as fast as possible. Then the film throws in her/their legs a divorced middle aged man who was a fisherman but isn't anymore, who would like to have a peaceful life but cannot avoid being dragged into some shadowy and shady business by a half brother of his. Then the rest is details. The scenery is beautiful though not overused. The weather is chilly and we can feel it perfectly well. The anxiety, the fear, the panic now and then are perfectly present and lively. The daughter what's more is fantasizing some kind of diary left behind by some previous runaway abandoned escapee of some sort. The film though tries to stick to the rhythm of that life when it is stranded like this in no place nowhere and it is rather slow, maybe too slow. But apart from that it is a film you have to let yourself slip into without any resistance, including to the accent of this northern region of the US, somewhere between Seattle and Vancouver.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

tone143 This was a perfectly fine little human drama-John Sayles has a great insight into the human heart.Major problem for me was how uniquely terrible Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's singing voice is-I spent half the film cringing at flat,reedy notes that put me in mind of Jennifer Warnes with ZERO talent.I realize that Sayles wanted to keep it naturalistic and real,having her be just an OK singer,but her voice could peel paint!Anyhow,not a bad film overall.Oh,right...I have to write 10 lines,minimum...isn't that a lame-ass condition of this comments page?...I'm sure you'd agree..is it ten lines yyyyeettt???BTW,Mary Elizabeth is still the stunning Italian power-vixen she's always been.Is that ten fricking lines yet?

aberlour36 This beautifully filmed and highly intelligent movie is essentially a soap opera about a small-time nightclub singer in Alaska and her adolescent daughter. The latter is perpetually upset by the former's continuous succession of boy friends, forcing the daughter to move each year and feel a loneliness that is eating her up. The plot, in short, resembles that of Neal Simon's The Goodbye Girl.Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is superb as the singer, and David Strathairn is a fine lead male character. More than halfway through the film, the plot takes a strong turn, and the lives of the three major characters are placed in jeopardy. Incredibly, the film ends without resolving the issue. We do not know if these interesting people we've learned to know for the past couple of hours are murdered or rescued. In a theater, I would have booed and thrown things at the screen. (Well, at least when I was younger and dumber.) Along the way, we receive some liberal propaganda about the commercial uses of Alaska. And there are some fine shots of the landscape and seascape. But don't expect to learn much about the state, for this is a fascinating melodrama that could have been filmed anywhere. What a shame that John Sayles copped out at the end, leaving many viewers frustrated and angry.

isisherbs2000 I enjoyed this movie tremendously, and although I agree with previous posters that the 'mother' is a monster, I thought that helped the film, particularly since she was portrayed sensitively-ish (she's definitely the least sympathetic of the 3 main characters). The self-absorption and the amazingly flamboyant failed attempts at good parenting are all part of the title: Limbo. Mastroantonio's character is in perpetual limbo, and as a result, so is her daughter. Straithairn is simply trying to live, in limbo due to an accident for which he feels responsible (but isn't). The community is in limbo, as well, as industries close and local officials try to find a way to keep the economy afloat (and their own pockets full). Although one could argue that the crisis - Straithairn's brother's 'situation' - is a little manipulative, I didn't mind it, and I loved the fact that the crisis led the trio to a 'time-out' - limbo within a limbo. It was filmed so beautifully, acted so amazingly well and was so nice and slow that I almost felt envious of the characters for their situation - who, in real life, gets to put their life into a perspective while bonding with other truly caring souls? Of course, being hunted by killers, starving to death and worrying about dying in the Alaskan winter are no picnic...but, there was a strong sense of togetherness and of honesty, even painful and inappropriate honesty. As for the ending --- well, I, too, shouted 'NO!' at the screen, but only because I ended up loving these characters so much I wanted to see them do well - to get out of limbo, as they all so ardently wish for (the final scene itself was so expressive, both in the staging and the acting, that it tore me up). Of course, I didn't want them to die, either! A perfectly formed movie. I will watch it again, for sure.