An official selection at Cannes 1999, John Sayles' Limbo is another exceptional installment in an exemplary career. Sayles takes us to a glorious corner of Alaska where, unfortunately, the morale of the townsfolk doesn't match the spectacular scenery. Industry closure, the encroachment of tourism and persona! feuds have left a sour taste in more lhan a few mouths.

Joe Gastineau, a quiet handyman, lives with the spectre of his dead friends, fellow crew members who perished when their fishing boat sank 25 years previous. Locals are only too quick to lay the blame for the freak accident at Joe's feet. Donna De Angelo is a down at heel bar singer with an angelic voice but woeful luck wiih men. When she hooks up with Joe, the pair seem to be capable of banishing the clouds of their dark pasts.

A brighter future seems assured until Joe's half-brother, Bobby, hits town. With his own problems, of a potentially fatal nature. Bobby asks Joe to help crew on a trip to meet a couple of 'business associates'.

John Sayles has proven unusually sensitive to cultural and social distinctions present in small communities. With simple strokes, the director can paint a town's entire history, bring key characters together and then do what he does best: plumbing intimacy and human emotion. Limbo places people in extraordinary, and perilous, circumstances and tests their mettle and resolve, leaving the conclusion, literally and boldly, up to the viewer. A crucial inclusion in this year's MIFF programme.