Limbo

Maybe Australians have a casual relationship with the English language, but surely the accent isn’t that incomprehensible? Apparently it is for Berlinale audiences, since this English language film comes with English subtitles. Director Ivan Sen’s arresting latest work manages to be beautifully minimalist while also straddling multiple genres, including (as the Berlinale program calls the it) desert noir. It’s likely that the film’s western influences will be most evident to audiences, featuring a circumspect lawman of few words riding into town. 

In this neo-western, the lawman is the grizzled and deceptively dispassionate Travis Hurley (Simon Baker), who rides into town in a sensible sedan. He’s in the vast expanses of the Australian outback, a landscape scarred by opal mining; there to review the case of an Aboriginal woman who disappeared two decades ago. Solving the case doesn’t even appear to be on the cards, with the visit framed as a check-in, almost paying lip service to the victim’s family. The family, composed of siblings Charlie (Rob Collins) and Emma (Natasha Wanganeen), view Travis with suspicion and mistrust.

Sen’s latest is a masterful piece of work, stripped-down and presented in wonderfully austere black-and-white. He has an accomplished eye for the aesthetics of his story, and his screenplay approaches its potentially dour themes with true perceptiveness. The discrepancy between what different Australians can expect from the judicial system depending on the colour of their skin is acknowledged and observed, while respecting the audience’s intelligence. 

Baker, who’s working more and more in his native Australia these days, does away with any vanity. With his shaved head and mournful eyes, the actor looks a far cry from his days as The Mentalist. He convinces as the matter-of-fact police officer, who gets a few stellar lines that nod towards the film’s western undertones. When asked about his name (“Travis Hurley? What kind of name is that?”) he shoots back, “The kind I was given.” The genre motifs are reinforced as Travis begins to investigate, travelling to isolated opal mines, like he’s visiting prospectors on their claims. Rob Collins and Natasha Wanganeen are similarly impressive as siblings going through life with open emotional wounds. Limbo is intriguing, with a specific, intelligent point of view.

Oliver Johnston

Limbo does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Limbo here: