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Limbo Movie Review

Limbo is a 2021 British drama film directed by Ben Sharrock and starring Amir El-Masry and Vikash Bhai. It is a solid movie that isn’t as great as the critics have said.

On a fictional remote Scottish island, a group of new arrivals await the results of their asylum claims. Among them is Omar, a young Syrian musician burdened by the weight of his grandfather’s oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. This movie is by classification a dramedy, but I personally did not find its humor all that great or present.

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This is some sort of new trend. They classify everything as a dramedy when in reality the movie is for the most part a clear drama first and foremost. The main premise is interesting and the setting is fantastic. In fact, some of the scenes on this island pleasantly reminded me of Bergman film imagery as the remoteness and coldness of the region went well with the alienation of these refugees.

I did like the main characters and their relationship was very well realized. The acting from the two was also unexpectedly terrific. The movie also was realistic in its usage of both the English and Arabic languages while the overall depiction of the refugees was also grounded and sophisticated.

However, the other characters were underutilized and the movie as a whole simply did not appeal to me all that much due to its leisurely pace and the prevailing feeling that nothing is happening throughout, and I could just never shake that feeling as even the third act did not feel satisfying in the slightest.

Limbo looks great, the aforementioned cinematography is excellent and the directing is solid, but the pacing is quite mediocre and the movie’s use of music and its oud instrument needed to have been stronger. The fact that the movie is so short and it felt quite long only further signifies how poorly paced, uneventful and dull it actually is. The dialogue is fine, but it needed more plot, there is no question about it.

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Limbo is very well acted by its talented cast and the main characters worked. The film’s dialogue and especially the remoteness of the setting excelled at depicting the alienation of these refugees. However, the movie is uneventful due to its thin plot and the slow pacing made it feel much longer than it actually is.

My Rating – 3.5