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Limbo (2007)
 For most people the line between reality and dreams is clear. Although we may slip into a daydream or let our minds wander from time to time, it is not difficult to pull yourself back from the world in your mind to the one around you. In writer/director Tina Krause’s new film Limbo, this is not the case. Catherine is a woman haunted by dark and disturbing images. She travels through the waking world, but sees things others do not. At first it would seem that her sanity is in question, but is it? Or is this something far worse than mental illness? Catherine is caught between this world and the next, Heaven and Hell. She is in her own purgatory where reality and dark visions meld into one.
Limbo is an interesting film to watch. Krause uses simple special effects and creative camera work to masterfully create the dark world that Catherine journeys through. Many of Krause’s visuals, which at first appear provocative and erotic (such as a nude woman outlined in a doorway), reveal themselves to be much more sinister and macabre (the same woman then having her abdomen ripped open by disembodied hands). This creates an atmosphere of confusion that allows the viewer to understand Catherine’s own bewilderment as she struggles to understand the world around her. Krause also uses the film’s soundtrack to effectively enhance the surrealist feeling of the film. The combination of intense sight and sound created by Limbo makes it an intense experience to watch. In fact, it is this quality that also proves to be not only a strength for the film, but also a weakness as Limbo’s visuals may, at times overwhelm the viewer and make it difficult to understand their meaning. Limbo is a dark and disturbing vision, that may not be to everyone’s tastes, but is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for something more than the latest cookie-cutter film from Hollywood.
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