Stella Corradi’s restrained Windrush drama is moving and worth the attention it asks for. The supporting characters deserve more space, but Patrick Robinson makes Anthony’s fear, anger and effort to remain composed painfully clear.
Stella Corradi’s Sitting in Limbo is a moving drama that puts its faith in Patrick Robinson, and is right to do so. Its subject is the Windrush scandal, approached through Anthony’s experience of bureaucracy and the damage it does to his sense of belonging. Stephen S. Thompson’s writing keeps the emphasis on what this treatment costs a person. The narrow focus has its drawbacks, but Robinson gives us enough to sustain our interest in Anthony without turning his distress into a performance of suffering.
Robinson makes Anthony’s composure feel difficult to maintain. Fear and anger are present together, though neither becomes an invitation to admire the actor for displaying them. We found his effort to stay composed distressing, because Robinson makes clear how much Anthony has to suppress while trying to deal with what is happening to him. The weariness matters, too: staying reasonable takes something out of him, and Robinson allows us to register the effort without overstating it.
Social dramas can become too pleased with the dignity of the people they depict. Anthony should not have to be patient or sympathetic for his treatment to matter; a less agreeable person would deserve the same concern. Robinson’s anger helps here, giving Anthony feelings that cannot be contained by the description of a decent man in difficulty. Thompson and Corradi are strongest when they trust that anger to be understood without explaining it, keeping our attention on the person subjected to official decisions.
Rina Yang’s cinematography and Stephen Campbell’s production design support the intimacy of Corradi’s approach, without competing with the actors for attention. The editing by Kristina Hetherington and Lee Mckarkiel gives the telling a useful clarity: bureaucratic confusion does not become confusion for us. Neil Davidge’s music makes less of an impression than the performances, which is no great fault in a drama so dependent on Robinson. The unobtrusiveness works, although the film can feel a little too visually discreet for the strength of feeling it generates.
Nadine Marshall as Janet and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Eileen are welcome presences, though neither character feels as fully considered as Anthony. The supporting performances deserve more space, and this is where the close attention to him becomes a limitation. We get less opportunity to consider the other characters in their own right. It is a worthwhile reservation about a film whose lead performance is so persuasive that it can take a while to notice how much of our interest depends on him.
At 89 minutes, Sitting in Limbo is compact, but Robinson’s weariness asks for sustained attention. Corradi’s restraint suits a story about the damage bureaucracy does to someone’s understanding of home, and she avoids making anger feel like an easy response that settles anything. The film is strongest when it leaves us considering how Anthony manages to contain his feelings at all. Watch it for Robinson, accepting that the people around Anthony remain less clearly drawn.
