Synopsis: This film tells the story of a 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, and singer Donna de Angelo and stumbling career and relationship with her disaffected daughter Noelle, both of whom 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 three characters are changed forever. And the outcome is limbo.

Cast:
David Strathairn .... "Jumpin'" Joe Gastineau
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio .... Donna De Angelo
Vanessa Martinez .... Noelle De Angelo
Herma­nio Ramos .... Ricky
Kris Kristofferson .... "Smilin'" Jack Johannson
Dawn McInturff .... Audrey
Casey Siemaszko .... Bobby Gastineau
Kathryn Grody .... Frankie
Tom Biss .... Baines
Rita Taggart .... Lou
Leo Burmester .... Harmon King
Michael Laskin .... Albright
Jimmy MacDonell .... Randy Mason
Marit Carlson-van Dort .... Stacy
Monica Brandner .... Corky

Favorite Quotes:
• Donna: "Fisherman?"
Joe: "Yeah, I was."
Donna: "Like it?"
Joe: "While it lasted, yes."
Donna: "You don't go out anymore?"
Joe: "Nope."
Donna: "Why not?"
Joe: "Unforeseen circumstances."

• Donna: "How come you're not married? Sorry! If you don't want to say..."
Joe: "No, eh, probably the same reason you're not married."
Donna: "Because such a high percentage of men are jerks?"
Joe: "No."
Donna: "Because women are scarce and winters are long?"
Joe: "That's true, but..."
Donna: "Because you're looking for someone fun to be with? Who understands your bullshit but is still crazy about you anyway?"
Joe: "That's a bit much to ask for."
Donna: "No, it's not."

• "You can't always save people." - Joe

Notes:
• Limbo reteamed David with John Sayles for the seventh time. Subsequently, David has been Sayles' most frequent leading man in his movies.
• For his work in Limbo, David received his third Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead. Co-star Vanessa Martinez also received a nomination.
• Sayles specifically wrote Limbo with David in mind for the leading role. And the beginnings of the story can be traced back to 1987, when Mr. Sayles visited Alaska.
• To follow the supposed weeks the characters spend on the island, Sayles shot the outside and inside scenes (the hut) in rare sequence so that David could grow a proper beard.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "Strathairn has never been more appealing or believable as a Gary Cooper-ish man of the outdoors." -William Arnold, Seattle Post Intelligencer

• "David Strathairn...has rarely been better. The actor, a Sayles regular (this is his seventh outing for the director), brings qualities of ordinariness and quiet intelligence to the part. He never overacts or underacts, and seems to find the perfect tone with which to play every scene." -James Berardinelli, Colossus Movie Reviews

• "Strathairn as Joe is the epitome of a resigned yet innately decent man. There is a flicker of fear in his eyes, no matter the situation, but Strathairn knows how to show us the difference between grappling with terror and succumbing to it." -Abby Bernstein, Audio Revolution

• "Strathairn is perfect..." -Mike Clark, USA Today

• "This part was written for Stratharin..." -Paul Clinton, CNN

• "Stratharin (a Sayles regular since Secaucus 7, and who unlike many Hollywood actors genuinely looks like a working man) and Mastrantonio (who, now past forty, has reached a point where decent roles for women are hard to come by) give commanding performances, and Vanessa Martinez is just as good." -DVD Times

• "Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in Notting Hill may be the year's most adorable screen couple. But in evoking a burgeoning, thorny grown-up relationship laden with heavy baggage, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and David Strathairn run rings around them in John Sayles's powerful, boldly discursive film Limbo... Mr. Strathairn's blend of intense, guarded intelligence and compressed machismo are ideal for the role of a veteran outdoorsman haunted by his responsibility for two drownings in a freak sailing accident 25 years earlier." -Stephen Holden, The New York Times

• "This is very watchable: Strathairn, Mastrantonio and Martinez are intense performers, and the cinematographer, Haskell Wexler, is a fascinating mixer of realistic brightness and rich colours." -Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic

• "Jolted by its three compelling lead performances (Strathairn, Mastrantonio and Martinez), Limbo sets aside its social commentary and focuses on its relationships. The result is mesmerizing theatrics.

"It helps that Strathairn plays such an effective everyman. A longtime Sayles collaborator (Return of the Secaucus 7, Matewan, Passion Fish, The Brother From Another Planet, Eight Men Out and City of Hope), Strathairn fills the screen with a face more long and expressive than Hollywood handsome. His voice is believably gruff. He walks slowly, like a man worn from hard labor. Strathairn's tentative expressions as the lovelorn Gastineau give Limbo a heartfelt resonance." -Steve Ramos, City Beat

• "Limbo is filled with a great cast and they deliver compelling and great performances. One of the better, underrated actors working today, David Strathairn (Simon Birch, The River Wild) perfectly plays his 'broken' character haunted by a tragic past. With our hindsight into his character's former difficulties, and his subtle nuances of displaying them from under his otherwise quiet demeanor, Strathairn delivers a wonderful performance." -Screen It! Reviews

• "Still, John Sayles continues as one of the few original creators practicing in the commercialized film world. He draws the utmost from his actors. Strathairn, appearing in his seventh Sayles film, is terrific; he deserves a swim in the mainstream." -Bob Thomas, Delaware Online Entertainment

• "David Strathairn, a veteran of several Sayles movies, brings his low-keyed and somewhat bruised charm to the role of Joe Gastineau, a former fisherman who gave up his trade when a boating accident he was in led to the death of two people." -Richard C. Walls, Metro Times

• "Strathairn in particular, a Sayles regular from Return of the Secaucus 7 and Passion Fish, is utterly convincing in his heartache. He's the kind of masculine-in-his-depressive-funk leading man that Gary Cooper used to play, and he's well-matched against Mastrantonio's lively, hard-living chanteuse. Their chemistry is a believably coy, middle-aged slow burn, complete with equal parts emotional baggage and nagging, nail-biting optimism." -Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.Com

(David On His Role:)
• "I was presented with Joe Gastineau as a fully formed individual before I even stepped in, but when I got to Alaska--which was only a few days before we started filming--I discovered that Joe was extracted from the people I started meeting here. People who live here are ambassadors for this place, and that sense of connection with one's environment is also a key to Joe Gastineau, I think.

"There's also an element of willingness to help out--strangers, friends, neighbours--that plays a big part in Joe's character. He's more than a 'man Friday' for Donna and Noelle when they all get stranded. He also has a real gentle, subtle, unconscious way of helping them reckon with each other. And that's something I've found in many people here." -David Strathairn, 1999

• "John's pictures are always about so much. It's like Chekhov--you know, these simple little short stories which are resonant to the ripple out to sea and back." -David Strathairn, 1999

• [regarding the film] "That's the beauty of the script: it's a reflection, it's not really an answer." -David Strathairn, 1999

(John Sayles On David:)
• [on casting and the character of Joe] "What I've always liked about David is that he can play text and subtext. He can keep it simple but a lot's going on... If you write every character the same, it's really hard on the actors to find a rhythm and a form for the character, the way they speak. David's character gives you the simplest answer. It may be enigmatic, but it's a simple one." -John Sayles, director

• "I had all three of the leads in mind. David Strathairn and I had worked [together] many times, so he was someone I had in mind... But the arc of change is the most pronounced in David Strathairn's character because he's the guy who has really been treading water for 25 years. He's not drowning but he's not going anywhere either. And there is no end in sight until he runs into Donna De Angelo." -John Sayles, director

Related Links:
The TFL-Approved Limbo Fanlisting (off site)
Limbo - Notes On Production (off site)
Limbo - Personal Onset Experience (off site)