User reviews

Set against the backdrop of Australia's outback region, Limbo is an unsettling crime drama that sees Detective Simon Baker investigate a 20-year-old cold case involving an Aboriginal woman who went missing years ago. Written by Ivan Sen (who also directed) and featuring his unique score, Limbo presents viewers with raw emotion while driving home how injustice has scarred both land and people.

The film uses breathtaking black-and-white cinematography to create an ominous atmosphere that emphasises isolation and desolation - further underscoring each character's plight through extended shots coupled with minimal dialogue that helps viewers feel every ounce of pain each character experiences. The location is a key element in Limbo, from the rusted-out cars to the deserted streets and lunar-like landscapes.

Themes such as guilt are explored poignantly in Limbo. At the same time, it delves deep into redemption whilst examining limbo as both physical space or spiritual states - touching on heavier subjects sensitively throughout its runtime.

Simon Baker transforms into this jaded detective plagued by heroin addiction - delivering the best performance I have seen from him. The remaining cast, including Rob Collins and Natasha Wanganeen, also deliver great performances as they each process their painful coping mechanisms. Nicholas Hope delivers a standout performance as an enigmatic prospector in Limbo. His portrayal brings an element of mystery tinged with menace. Another significant positive of the film is Sen's atmospheric score which blends electronic sounds with traditional acoustic instruments to create a compelling mood filled with melancholy notes underscored by tension. This all combines into making Limbo what could be considered an acquired taste film - one that not everyone will find gripping due to its unhurried pacing coupled with, at times, disheartening themes. Limbo does not offer superficial resolutions but instead prompts us into introspection on Australian culture, both past and present.

Despite its dark themes and melancholy pace, I recommend viewing it by those who love artistic expression and deeper social considerations. I liked it.

Limbo was an ok film that was heavily lacking in terms of details and substance.

It had the atmosphere, the dialogue and the characters overall felt realistic enough to believe in them. The atmosphere was all present, including a couple of metaphors here and there.

The idea of making it B&W didn't make too much sense for me, maybe it had something to do with the theme of the film, maybe it was made this was purely for the artistic purposes, but I'd appreciate it more if it had colors, just washed out or muted.

The detective concept worked fine, you could easily follow the story with the main character, understand what he was thinking without him directly explaining it. Many things in this film were understandable without direct expository dialogue, which is surely an achievement. Although, I'd appreciate more details and more of actual story. Seems like in real life things might be a little more complicated. The small amount of story the film had was still delivered and the ending was perfectly fine, although the main character's backstory and motivations of some characters were left behind.

So, as a one-time watch it's still perfectly fine, but more depth and real human emotions would've improve it for sure, since the story was either simplistic to begin with, or was simplified in the process.

This is a great movie, why, why, why, try to make it better by going B&W? This truly took so much away ...... I was constantly reminded I was watching a movie thus getting into it was impossible.

Being able to be transported into Coober Pedy is an experience so many of us will never know. This movie could have taken me on a Reality journey into Central Australia but no, some over zealous producer has decided that reality isn't good enough.

Perhaps the producers should take a reality check. If you think you "need" to compete with the crowd then don't do Aussie Outback.

Remember I thought this was a great movie - but hated the B&W. I felt robbed.

Aside from the stunning cinematography and some convincing performances, This movie is a recycled crime noir half-baked from the clichés of the genre. The story just ticks off the tropes of a lonesome, emotional wreck sort of cop who gets too personally involved in a case. No real reasons are offered for the detective's emotional involvement nor the way he resolves the mess the victim's family is in. The bleak detective 1. Has a broken marriage, 2. An estranged son, and 3. The guilt of killing someone in the past. He also is a drug addict and his addiction plays no role in his major decision-making moments nor becomes a struggle to prevent him from performing his heroic actions.

--Spoiler Alert--- The story unfolds as the victim's family refuses to talk to the detective because he is a cop and a white one too. Now that the trope is ticked off and we have some conflicts arrayed, the plot jumps over resolving this conflict and simply have the family members, without any change in their external or internal circumstances, to not only cooperate with him but also see him as a dear friend to the point of confiding their utmost feelings or reaching out for help in their very messed up family matters. The story conveniently ignores the fact that such a degree of vulnerability can only be shared with someone who has earned that kind of trust, and it fails even to offer a single trope-driven scene to cover this point.

Moving on to the next trope, when the lonesome detective gets to play a saviour to the victim's brother while drunk driving and a shoulder to cry for the victim's sister when she suddenly confides her twenty-year-old guilt, we are to believe that a cop who himself finds refuge in drugs to run away from his own dark feelings is so adeptly capable of giving generous care and compassion to some strangers. While it is possible for an emotional wreck to empathize with others, in this case, we have a character whose choice for dealing with emotional upheavals is escape. If this approach is to change, we must see him going through a serious struggle to earn that sort of mental strength, but again the story simply lets him without paying any price to switch gear and offer a great deal of openness and courage.

Mentioned above are only a few issues, there are too many complaisant moments in this film that make it barely engaging, yet the overwhelmingly positive feedback given on this website (currently at %95) which I believe is mostly from Australian critics indicates one thing. We set a much lower bar for an Australian film.

Very atmospheric strong drama with charismatic Simon Baker subtly reminiscent of Walter White: calm masculinity and brokenness.

Filmed beautifully. Black and white film convincingly and vividly conveys heat, heat and hopelessness.

It's true. The acting is excellent. I believe in this story. It will probably be difficult for those who have not lived in small dying towns, who have not experienced the melancholy of impoverished provincial life, to appreciate this film. But this is what happens in life - unfair and cruel. And in order to survive, and not go crazy, you need to find the strength to let go of the situation and move on.

I had high hopes for this movie, being a fan of Sen's work. But my hopes were dashed when I got to the end of the film & realised there was nothing more to it than meets the eye. Nobody does anything, nobody says anything, nothing happens, nothing is resolved. There is no drama, no conflict, no dynamism to the film whatsoever. No character's pulse goes over 60, no emotions arise beyond desolation. A pointless film, much over-praised. Cinematography is wonderful. The actors are top notch and do their best, but there's no screenplay to work off. I will now officially give up on Australian films.

I was hesitant to watch it but as it got further into the movie I was hooked. I loved it being shot in black and white, and the area it was shot in was amazing. Simon Baker played his role so well and I think this is one of his best movies.

The movie does touch on a subject that lots of people dont like talking about between the whites and the indigenous. It was mentioned that if it was a white girl that had gone missing a lot more would have been done but as she wasn't nothing was done to find the person who did it. The ending well....you should watch it and I think you will be surprised by it.

This film has NOTHING, it has no pulse, the story is so booooring and everyone talk very very slow and theres nothing compelling, nothing interesting, theres no conflict, no character development, no reason to make this film.

Anyone that says this is a haunting tale has brain damage or related to the film in some way.

The landscapes are magnificent and the cinematography is just beatiful.

I love Simon Baker but just wasted here.

Screen Australia and Screen Agencies please STOP giving funds to people who make bad films just because there are Aboriginal people.

I am a person of color and I'm begging people to stop.

There are so many cultures in Australia and suburbs with stories that are underrepresented.

I am done with the slow Australian paced films.

You are creating more hatred from the Aussie audiences, there only like 1 percent of the population who would watch this.

This is a box office fail, if you are trying to make arty films for yourself that's fine, but this is NOT for a big audience, and you are only making films now to try and win awards.

Its time to let the next generation if film-makers make some films, and let them have the funds.

I understand that there is an agenda that you should have Australiana films but this is just ripping off the tax-payers.

A huge overhaul is needed at Screen Australia, stop giving your friends money and stop being corrupt because there is no way that when you read 90 percent of the scripts that you would greenlight them.

Having lived in the states for some time now and having done coverage for the studios I can assure you none of the screenplays that get greenlit here would ever get made in the states.

The reason is marketability, Australia fails even to compete with New Zealand a smaller nation.

Please stop making films like this unless you make them with your own money.

Its so great to see that some film makers still care about what a good film is. From the start, when the main character appears i could tell this is no ordinary production. This is a well thought of, acted, directed and a very moody film. The minimalistic dialog, the cinematography, acting and content all add up to a brilliant gem. So rare that it can go unnoticed so easily. If youre a film buff like me, do not miss it. Films like this are extremely rare.

Dont look for action, explosion, or other superficial stuff that doesnt engage. Look closer!

Bravo to all involved. I was truly compelled to write this review.

B. B.

Saw it on a plane, whole time I was wondering when something was going to happen. Nothing ever happened. Not immersive, spent a lot of the movie noticing how bad the acting is overall.

A lot of scenes where nothing happens that's supposed to be character development but it's not because you don't care. I don't know who any of the characters names are or what they do or what their motivations are because the storyteller failed.

The main character is pretty good maybe he'll be in a good movie in the future. It seems like being in black and white to trick dumb people into thinking it's artsy and therefore good seems to have been pretty effective.

I gave it a 2 instead of a 1 since it wasn't made in Hollywood and therefore should be held to lower standards.

Don't waste your time on this movie. I don't mind black and white movies, but this movie is just boring and there is no plot at all. If you finish watching it, you know as much as you knew before you started. I expected that there will be some events which will make it interesting... Well, something happened, but none of it was close to something I can call "interesting". I really hope that this movie fail miserably and nobody have any money left to spend or invest into movies like this one. Please, if someone can do it, shield me from ever seeing any movie produced by people who made this one. I don't want to waste my time on it.

I have watched and do follow Australian TV and cinema and the likes of "Black Snow" and "Limbo" only seem to have scratched the tip of the iceberg in terms of racism... "Limbo" feels even more personal though. You can see it in the austere setting and cinematography, sparse dialogue, superb delicate and minimalist method acting, symbolism throughout... seems black and white, but there truly are far more shades of grey to start snowballing a real conversion which, in all fairness, never, in a million years, have I thought Aussies needed to tackle... At the end of the day, this IS a "whodunnit", but at a much larger scale... TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!

This may have been a great movie, but I turned it off after less than 10 minutes when I realised it was shot in Black and White just what the hell !!! Why, this going to turn off 90% of the people that want to watch this... maybe the fact I turned it off because it was shot in black and white not colour makes me shallow, but I do not think so this isn't 1899 any more, we have something called colour, why not use that, instead of this pretentious black and white arty, fa**y none sense.

Ok so perhaps I missed a good or even great movie, but if the producers cannot be bothered to give us a colour movie,,, then so what.

I loved this film - the characters, the acting, the filming, everything about it. It stays with you.

I knew nothing about it before my dad took me. He always picks the gold!

I was instantly gripped by the filming and the way it made me feel. The shots were always intriguing and filled with multiple layers bubbling away underneath an apparently simple scene.

I was so pleased with how i never knew what was going to happen & I loved the way the ending didn't disappoint me .... The way I was worried it was going to where you leave with a sense of emotional manipulation.

This film doesn't need to play such lame games. It simply presents the characters- no one over acting, no one annoying with their attempts to pull your strings. No child acting precocious & "cute".

It's so much more powerful, in my view, to simply present them - and have interesting, complex, realistic characters and a story that is not all tied up like a ribbon.

Surprisingly positive for such a damning indictment on the "justice" system.

Left me feeling satisfied, not played. Brilliant.

When you see a reviewr give a film like this a ten, you know it is a relative or an investor. The only reason I give this movie a 3 is because hidden among the massive failures there is such an interesting story. The editor of this fil is incompetent, everything abot the contnity of scenes and so forth is missing. It looks like it was filmed with a ten year old mobile phone. The staging and photograpohy and grainy rogh filming might have worked if the editor has any talent at all. The failres here are on the technical level. The actors are very good but the absolute incompetence of the film crew destroys this nwatchable film. To bad. Stop giving 10 ratings people. Pay attention. In this case it is a con. 3 on a good day.

World-weary police detective Travis Hurley (Simon Baker) is investigating a 20 year old Aboriginal cold case which reveals much social injustice.

The black and white looks really good. It has great visual content. Sadly, it is the most interesting thing about this movie. The story is meandering and going nowhere fast. The subject matter has some potential. It may help to have an Aboriginal character be his guide and have more screen time. Another thing that I noticed is the quietness which only accentuates the slow pacing. The movie is going for minimalist filming which I found rather emptying.

Limbo is a murder mystery, but more importantly, it is the story of prejudice, neglect, and discrimination.

A detective from the city (unwillingly?) came (to review a 20 yrs old cold case of the murder of an aboriginal girl) to a remote outback city fittingly named Limbo, coz the city as well as the residents seem to be in a perpetual state of limbo.

The motel, where he stays, the residence of key characters, and a few other buildings are repurposed (old & abandoned) opal mines, giving the city a medieval feel. The attitude of authorities (law and order) towards the majority aboriginal community is of racism and apathy and can be best described as medieval. This is also reflected in their profession, at least the way the investigation was done in this particular case. The key characters are also in a state of emotional limbo - the battered detective (with a failed marriage and an estranged kid) and the victim's siblings with the feeling of bitterness, frustration, and helplessness, are unable to move on in life due to the injustice done and lack of a closer.

The slow pace of the narrative, characters, and camera added with minimal dialogues and hauntingly beautiful black & white cinematography, especially the slow, panning, wide-angle drone shots at night, enhances this feeling and you feel that you are in limbo too.

If you're looking for a violent, action-packed, Hollywood-type film you won't find it here & you'll probably write a snarky IMDB review. If, however, you prefer strong characterization, atmospheric settings, a gripping plot & perfect casting, this is your cup of Aussie tea. I was halfway through the film before I realized it was B/W - I only knew that the general feel of the extraordinary setting grabbed me from the first couple of minutes. Simon Baker is in top form & the rest of the casting was perfect for each role. The story line is strong and the film doesn't deviate from the central plot, but we are given a broad picture of all other characters and their relationship to the main conflict - it all works seamlessly yet intricately. This is one of the best films I've seen in a long time & happily recommend it.

I sat spellbound watching this hauntingly beautiful film!! I didn't know what to expect when deciding to watch it, and hadn't read any reviews. But once it started, I couldn't tear my eyes away from it!! The acting is superb, especially the Indigenous cast! Plus Simon Baker is SO good in this one, very 'understated' in the lead role as the flawed detective. The cinematography is amazing too! While at first I didn't 'get' the black and white (I wanted the rich red earth and blue sky of the outback), I soon realised that this monochrome actually highlighted the superb subtlety of the characters and acting. Also, there's no 'sensationalism' like violence and annoying high speed chases to detract from the immersive experience. The aerial photography shows the moon-like landscape of endless holes dug for opal mining, and the long straight roads seem to stretch on forever. This is a movie for 'thinking' people, who are able to appreciate the nuanced and pitch-perfect delivery of a sadly familiar theme in Australia's dark history following white colonisation. Brilliantly done!! Thank you so much to all involved for this experience.

Beautifully paced, gorgeously shot, some of the best cinematography I've seen in Australian cinema in a long time, every shot is a work of art, the black and white really capture the mood and every flicker and crease in an actors face, a slow neo noir crime thriller that keeps you hooked, for a lot of people including me it's one of those films that feels like nothing is going on but there is so much going on at the same time, a raw and honest insight of what happens within Australia and its indigenous community especially out country which goes overlooked for the majority, Simon baker is so strong in this piece with less is more, an amazing cast everybody holding their own through out. Definitely recommend it.

A gaunt, grizzled Simon Baker stalks an arid, haunted alien wasteland in Ivan Sen's immense yet decidedly inward Limbo, an eerie, sorrowful Australian police procedural drama that unfolds in stark black and white against the unearthly backdrop of an opal mining town. Twenty years ago a teenage indigenous girl was murdered here, the killer never found. Baker is the cop called in to reevaluate the cold case, a man who has a past so troubling he takes heroin just to cope with the day to day. The locals initially seem less than willing to help given the neglect and indifference of the police overall in this forgotten region, but eventually the brother (Rob Collins) and sister (Natasha Wanganeen in one of the year's best performances so far) warm up to him and express long buried desire to find some closure. Closure doesn't exist in such an open, vast, lonely corner of the world though and the bizarre stone structures and desert dwellings seem to hold secrets in steadfast silence. Baker stays at a motel that is literally carved into a mineral structure underground, his room akin to being on the moon in terms of tone and atmosphere. He resembles someone like Bryan Cranston here, I'm so used to him as the glib clairvoyant dude on The Mentalist, to see him in such a quietly despairing, resolutely rugged characterization is jarring, but in a good way. He has clearly sacrificed a piece of his humanity for the work, and his journey through this hushed desolation almost beckons him to regain some of it by finding a few long hidden answers. Almost. It's a quiet, hypnotic tale unlike many other cop/killer mysteries, where meaning and significance are found in the wavering pauses between words and all the collective pain and confusion that ripples out from a crime like that can be seen in Wanganeen's ghostly, impossibly wide eyes as she, a relative unknown to me, gives some career best work in a fantastic film.