A young man (Hugo de Sousa) with a parachute lands in the middle of a desert but he has no memory of how he got there and no idea who he is. He’s lost and finds several other lost people as well, all of whom just wander this wasteland in the hope of finding the truth.
Director and writer Robert G.Putka was inspired to make Mister Limbo after suffering a major mental problem in his life: “Like every great breakthrough, this started with a breakdown. Back in the fall of 2016, my body and mind betrayed me, and I had a longform nervous breakdown. After years of panic attacks and generalized anxiety, it all came to a head as I was about to release my first feature film, MAD. What should have been a moment of vindication, turned into my own personal hell in a hotel room in Las Vegas.
I had the mother of panic attacks. A real nasty one lasting at least 5 hours, after which I finally, thankfully, passed out due to a heavy dosing of Xanax. But during those five hours, I alternated pacing the floor and curling up in the fetal position on the bed. I felt like I was going to die or, at the very least, collapse. This panic attack was different from all the other ones I’d encountered and learned to cope with.
Upon returning to Cleveland a few days later, the realization that I was far from out of the woods became painfully apparent. Five years later, I still haven’t fully healed from that experience. I still deal with physical remnants of that bottoming out, some of which have become chronic. I also still struggle trying to maintain a healthy mind, as anxiety is a daily stumbling block to living a “normal” life, whatever that even is anymore. But with that said, I’m in a good place spiritually and philosophically. I feel this has given me the type of clarity necessary to take my own crises of faith, fear, and regret, and inject these ideas into a story that I hope is both personal and cathartic as it is reflective and universal.
In a lot of ways, I’m the same person I was. In some cases, worse. But in a few ways, I’m better than I ever was. I’m certainly more hopeful, and that counts for a lot. The succinct version: I made this film after having emerged from a tumultuous period in my life. It helped me to better understand the power of forgiveness – both of oneself and others — and how it frees us to move on to better things. Maybe it can do the same for others.”
Soon, the parachute-wearing man known as Mister Limbo meets Craig (Vig Norris), another lost soul trapped in the sandy dunes, but instead of a parachute he has on yellow boots and a comfy bathrobe. There’s also The Drifter (Cameron Dye from Valley Girl), another desert dweller that either has the answers or just more questions for everyone. And oh yeah — a woman offering them drugs and chanting “Everything is everything.”
De Sousa and Norris work really well together and have such a perfect charm together. The film might be a simple idea — wandering for answers in the desert — but they make the time that you spend with them feel warm and cozy. Who knows where their characters go from here, but if all we have is this desert hangout, then at least we have something special to remember them by.
MIster Limbo is available on digital from Terror Films.
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