Sitting in Limbo

Full of gentle warmth and humor, with an upbear reggae score, this low-budget feature from the National Film Board of Canada provides a rare, intimate look at the difficulties of being non-white in the Great White North. Black, poor, and possibly pregnant, Pat lives in a small Montreal apartment with two other single black women and their infants. Involved with a well-meaning but terminally unmotivated charmer named Fabian, Pat is finding it increasingly difficult to hang onto those things in her life that matter most, such as her studies. A grim scenario, perhaps, but the film is never dreary. On the contrary, SITTING IN LIMBO is rich in humor and humanity, traits shared in abundance by its uncommonly credible characters.