Limbo

R

Released Apr 30, 2021

1 hr. 43 min.

Comedy

Drama

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List

93%

123 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

Audience Score

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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Kenneth

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/14/21

Full Review

DanielO

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/05/21

Full Review

Rocky

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

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/13/21

Full Review

Paul P

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/13/21

Full Review

Lyle B

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

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/12/21

Full Review

ann d

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/12/21

Full Review

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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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Limbo: Trailer 1

2:13

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Rebecca Harrison

Sight & Sound

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

Nov 2, 2021

Full Review

Donald Clarke

Irish Times

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

Rated: 5/5

Jul 30, 2021

Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

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

Rated: 4/5

Jul 29, 2021

Full Review

Serena Seghedoni

Loud and Clear Reviews

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.

Rated: 4.5/5

Oct 22, 2023

Full Review

Dallas King

Flick Feast

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.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 12, 2022

Full Review

Sarah Ward

Concrete Playground

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.

Jun 25, 2022

Full Review

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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
Executive Producer: Julia Oh, Daniel Battsek, Ross McKenzie, Lizzie Francke, David Segal Hamilton
Screenwriter: Ben Sharrock
Distributor: Focus Features
Production Co: Film4, Caravan Cinema, Creative Scotland, British Film Institute
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 30, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 29, 2021

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