All My Afterlife's a Circle
Limbo Takes Death in a New Direction

In the new independent film Limbo, director Thomas Ikimi takes a look at what the afterlife holds for those who don't make it to either heaven or hell. Is the afterlife merely an endless void, or is it an endless loop? For Adam Moses (Christopher Russo), a man betrayed and killed because of his work against a crime lord, the last hour of his life becomes the focus -- and the trap -- of his existence.

Limbo
Adam (Christopher Russo) has a strange sense of deja vu, in the afterlife mystery Limbo. (A Thomas Ikimi Film, 2005)

Directed by: Thomas Ikimi
Written by: Thomas Ikimi
Starring: Christopher Russo, Etya Dudko, Joe Holt, and Eric Christie

Rated Not Rated
Running time: 93 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.

Adam's world ends on a rooftop. Having refused a payoff from Tony Tachinardi (George Morafettis), he is betrayed and killed. Or is he? Adam wakes up on the roof, unsure what happened to him, and returns to his home. An hour later, everything changes. Although it was almost 1:00 in the afternoon, the clock rewinds and it is noon again. Adam's final hour repeats, like an LP record skipping, and he has no idea why. At first, he experiments: watching a glass return to the cupboard, watching a man walking down the street over and over. Convinced that this endless loop is real, Adam decides to find out what has caused it.

Some investigation leads Adam to search for a man named Ouroboros. He believes that Ouroboros is an assassin, hired by Tony Tachinardi to kill him. How this "infallible" hitman missed is not the question. Adam believes that something is causing him to relieve this hour repeatedly, and he thinks Ouroboros is the key. As Adam searches for answers, however, he begins to lose his grip on reality. He spirals into madness as his unchanging world reveals that life has no consequences.

Perhaps this is the most disturbing point of the film. In Adam's universe, he is free to do whatever he wants. But is this a good thing? As he says to a priest, "Is this free will?" If so, we were not meant to have it. Adam's confinement to limbo seems to be pointless, not offering him any chance at redemption -- only further damnation. He beats a would-be mugger and robs him. He murders another man with his bare hands. He rapes a woman. None of it matters because one hour later everything is the way it was.

Adam meets others in this realm who are aware of it, too. For Lasloe the Great (Joe Holt), the end of consequences is only the beginning of freedom. Using all manner of drugs, Lasloe looks for salvation in the next high. For the mysterious Rebecca (Etya Dudko), the key to finding a way out seems to be in helping Adam find the answers he seeks.

The film repeats itself with "hour cycles" as the same hour cannot be measured in any other way. The story begins as Adam -- in the 8,000s for his hour cycle -- saves Vaughn (Eric Christie) from losing a poker game. As this man thanks him, Adam begins to tell his story. But is his good deed to be rewarded, or will it all go away at the end of the hour? Like so much in Limbo, the consequences of Adam's time there are never measured.

Filmed in black and white, Limbo takes on the appearance of a classic film noir from the 1940s, although it is set in modern times. The absence of color and grainy definition echo the lack of clear definition in the Adam's world. Even as nothing changes on the screen, so nothing changes in limbo. There is no night. There is no sleep. There are no consequences. There is only limbo.

You can find out more on the film's official web site: www.limbomovie.com