Limbo

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2:13

Limbo

R

2021

1h 43m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

122 Reviews

55%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

Recently nominated for two BAFTA® awards for Best British Film and Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, LIMBO is a wry and poignant observation of the refugee experience, set on a fictional remote Scottish island where a group of new arrivals await the results of their asylum claims. It centers on Omar, a young Syrian musician who is burdened by his grandfather's oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. Reflecting the complexity of the movement of people across borders has been a long-held passion for director and writer Ben Sharrock, who spent time working for an NGO in refugee camps in southern Algeria and living in Damascus in 2009 shortly before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. There, he formed a network of friends whose personal stories inspired the film.

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Critics Consensus

A profoundly uplifting portrait of the refugee experience, Limbo is distinguished by its offbeat tone -- and overall impressive work from debuting director Ben Sharrock.

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Rebecca Harrison

Sight & Sound

Nov 2, 2021

Look beyond your limited worldview, Limbo says, and see the bigger, more beautiful, and more complicated picture.

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Donald Clarke

Irish Times

Jul 30, 2021

5/5

A wonderful comedy that savours its remote environment while keeping its subjects at the centre of the story.

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Jul 29, 2021

4/5

Sharrock has adopted a Keatonesque deadpan aesthetic that feels arrived at via a few different places.

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Serena Seghedoni

Loud and Clear Reviews

Oct 22, 2023

4.5/5

Limbo documents the refugee experience with irony, wit and heart, telling the tale of a young Syrian musician waiting for asylum on a remote Scottish island.

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Dallas King

Flick Feast

Nov 12, 2022

4/5

One of the greatest strengths of the film is the way that it beautifully balances tone. Sharrock skillfully manages to deftly move between comedy and tragedy... the result is something simultaneously heartbreaking yet uplifting.

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Sarah Ward

Concrete Playground

Jun 25, 2022

In a movie that's witty and perceptive, affectionate and poignant, and unwavering and clear-eyed, the tonal seesaw that Sharrock rides and perfects is just that: perfection.

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Kenneth

Jun 14, 2021

An inside view on what it's like as an immigrant waiting for a better life to happen, in another country, but not knowing if it every will. Putting everything on hope.

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DanielO

Jun 5, 2021

This is a pretty good movie that portraits, in a very radical and extreme way, the things you might experience as an immigrant. I liked the movie because it really shows you how hard can it be to leave everything you know behind and try to arrive to a new place, where you have to speak a new language, where you have to acclimate yourself to the weather and where the most difficult part is fitting into a new community while meeting their rules and their legal requirements. The characters are really placed in a "limbo state" while they wait for their paper work to clear before they can start their lives in a new place.

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Rocky

May 13, 2021

Very SLOW and hard to follow the plot as minimal info given about each character. Did not understand the phone booth in the field

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Paul P

May 13, 2021

What I disliked, understandable that as refugees they'd be played with accents or they're actual accents but there were times subtitles would've be good for understanding their struggles more, not as an insult but to understand their struggles, they were short chained by this handicap. Also, wish the supporting cast had more dialogue, understand the quietness sets the mood of isolation but there times where filling that void with banter or their past or thoughts would've given the audience a way to compare with Omar. Liked, Omar was center stage, we got to meet his older brother. That he emoted even without words, that he was conflicted with whether he made the right decision, we finally got to see that through his interaction with his Parents in Istanbul and Elder Brother. A movie to eventually add to my collection, FOR SURE.

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Lyle B

May 12, 2021

Very poignant and funny movie about refugees waiting for their cases to be determined on a windswept-to-the-extreme Scottish island.

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ann d

May 12, 2021

Loved this movie. It's kind of a hero's journey with the future wide open. We all have our paths to take. We think our lives are about us, but they are not. Our lives are about all of the people we touch along the path.

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Ben Sharrock

Director

Amir El-Masry

Omar

Vikash Bhai

Farhad

Ola Orebiyi

Wasef

Kwabena Ansah

Abedi

Sidse Babett Knudsen

Helga

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Synopsis

Recently nominated for two BAFTA® awards for Best British Film and Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, LIMBO is a wry and poignant observation of the refugee experience, set on a fictional remote Scottish island where a group of new arrivals await the results of their asylum claims. It centers on Omar, a young Syrian musician who is burdened by his grandfather's oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. Reflecting the complexity of the movement of people across borders has been a long-held passion for director and writer Ben Sharrock, who spent time working for an NGO in refugee camps in southern Algeria and living in Damascus in 2009 shortly before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. There, he formed a network of friends whose personal stories inspired the film.

Director: Ben Sharrock
Producer: Irune Gurtubai, Angus Lamont
Screenwriter: Ben Sharrock
Distributor: Focus Features
Production Co: Caravan Cinema, British Film Institute, Film4, Creative Scotland
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 30, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 29, 2021
Runtime: 1h 43m

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