When I was a teenager, my parents liked to hand me movies they watched that they didn't like, because there was this running joke (already, at such a young age) that I liked stuff that other people didn't like, just by default. Usually this was just because my parents don't like indie/arty cinema. I can't think of any specific movies, aside from Limbo, that I discovered this way.

To speak of Limbo is to spoil Limbo, and it's one of the only bad things about it (though you only run into this when trying to tell other people about it). What is it about? Well, it's about a lot of people, then it's about a small group, but if I tell you anything about what happens then it's going to kind of spoil everything. I shouldn't even tell you the first major plot point that happens, what the second half of the film is, because it's going to shift your concentration during the first half.

I was lucky enough to watch Limbo without even seeing the cover art. I mean, I knew who the lead actors were, but I didn't know what the movie was about at all. I was also ridiculously stoned, the kind of stoned that you got when you were a freshman in high school and smoking pot was still exciting and made things more interesting than usual (as opposed to just "less boring than usual" which crops up in the later years). I kept reading into it all these subconscious or subversive plot lines that didn't actually exist in the movie. I was transfixed, going, "Oh my god! That guy might kill that girl! What is going on! This is crazy! What the fuck, alpacas?" when in actuality there was nothing of the sort happening, though there is a discussion on alpacas at one point.

So, naturally, the first time I watched Limbo, it was kind of a trip. I watched it again the next day and sat floored at how poorly I comprehended the first part of the film.

Years later, I would show Limbo to my friend Flanders, who is quite a bit larger than me, who became enraged at the end of the film and stomped around my apartment nearly punching everything and swearing that I was lucky that he can control his Hulk-rage and not beat me up for making him watch it. Why was he enraged? See! I can't tell you, because that would ruin the whole thing.

I've showed a few girlfriends Limbo. One said she liked it, only to tell me years later that she only said she liked it to not hurt my feelings. I'm pretty sure one got bored and distracted me with sex so she didn't have to watch it. I think one actually liked it somewhat but you can never be sure with women.

I've read reviews on Amazon that range from utterly scathing to positively glowing. This is the true champion of being a purely "love it or hate it" film. There's no middle ground. Either you get it, or you don't, and if you don't get it you're going to feel kind of robbed. I've read that film professors have shown Limbo to their film students, for what reason I can't really recollect.

So do yourself a favor: don't look at the cover art, don't read the synopsis of the movie, just download it or rent it or buy it and watch it. It's completely self-contained and it makes perfect sense. I promise.

Furthermore, it's a beautiful movie. It's kind of a love-song to Alaska, if you will, so if you fancy yourself a fan of that state, then watch this. It's a shame that it doesn't exist in HD/Bluray yet as the footage in this film is uniquely beautiful.

Maid Marian Dubois from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood sings country music with a voice trained for opera and you can generally safely mute it whenever she starts singing, unless you really want to be a purest and suffer through it. This is also one of David Strathairn's best movies IMHO. Lots of sexy footage of him on a fishing boat, hauling trout out of net.

Song Note: I figured I'd try to force myself to jump between decades by posting a group and then posting a band that influences them that I like, so today you get Bruce Springsteen. Little did I realize that I am fucked up musically and ended up picking the most obtuse song out of Springsteen's whole collection (the only one that doesn't sound anything like yesterday's track). The Boss in falsetto for a whole song; he doesn't do this any other time does he?