Australian actor Simon Baker, better known for his psychic abilities solving crimes on long-running TV drama The Mentalist, is back on the big screen in what may be one of the most compelling films of 2023.
Baker stars in Limbo, a film by award-winning Indigenous filmmaker Ivan Sen shot in the remote South Australian mining town of Coober Pedy, and the 53-year-old is almost unrecognisable.
This time, he’s a long way from Patrick Jane – a slick, handsome consultant who helps a US police department track a serial killer – to playing disillusioned brooding detective Travis Hurley in the black-and-white film.
With a drug addiction and his own family problems, the nondescript cop (with an overnight bag, a box of case notes and some drug paraphernalia) checks into local underground Motel Limbo (in the fictitious town of Limbo), for his latest assignment.
On the surface, he has been asked to investigate the 20-year-old cold-case murder of local Indigenous girl Charlotte Hayes.
Underneath, the film, which has been variously described by film critics as an outback film noir, “starkly atmospheric” and “a pared-to-the-bleached-bones existential thriller”, is so much more.
In an interview with The New Daily, Baker and Sen talked about the making of Limbo before its national premiere this week.
‘Important stories to know’
“Coming back [to Australia] after 20 years [in the US], I was intrigued by the Indigenous stories of colonised Australia … they’re tough, difficult stories, but important stories to know,” Baker said.
“Tough for a white guy telling that story because you’ll have a lot of people who say that’s not your story to tell.”
Sen (Mystery Road, Goldstone) says his story “is a manifestation of so many different cases that have happened around Australia over the last 200 years”.
“It’s something that is always there … you talk to your family and it’s always there. You ask someone where someone is, he’s inside, when’s he getting out. All these conversations are around the justice system,” Sen said.
“Hard to ignore it. We’ve had violent crimes happen within our family and the police response has been lacklustre and apathetic.
“I responded with an exclamation mark on it with this film and show the interaction between the Indigenous side and the white side through this policeman Travis Hurley.”
He says he has always wanted to work with Baker, and reckons they were destined to work with each other.
“He has got an amazing presence,” Sen said.
“He can talk so well without actually having to open his mouth. I wanted to expand that within a cinematic context, so this was our chance.”
Sen takes on multiple roles
All the characters in the film are all ‘stuck’ in their own limbo, whether it’s Hurley looking for salvation, helping the Indigenous family find answers to their trauma, or how the criminal justice system treated Charlotte’s disappearance and overlooked suspects.
Choosing Coober Pedy to tell Limbo was a perfect backdrop for Sen, who scouted for the locations, and found key props and bombed-out cars to drive.
In fact, he took on the role of writer, director, producer, editor and composer.
“Like all my stories, they come from location and the power of that place is what feeds the characters and the story. I think that’s how you feel the film has grown out of this incredible place,” Sen told TND.
In one pivotal scene, Hurley, after a lengthy investigation, and having established a working relationship with family member Emma (played by Natasha Wanganeen), meets her at the door of his motel room.
He embraces her.
“That’s a strong, beautiful moment,” Baker said.
“It’s not like we could solve the problem … the way Ivan shot that … my hand looks big and strong, solid, but no resolution to her trauma.
“One thing I’ve experienced being back here is how Indigenous Australians reinvest in hope and reinvest in hope so many times … [with] the generosity and kindness of that family.”
Baker said Sen’s storytelling “through the perspective of a white cop’s experience in this family” was “an interesting way to look at it … and areas which could be considered controversial, a white saviour story”.
“I thought it was a way into that story that was really interesting through this guy, who has his own issues,” he said.
“I surrendered to the character and the working experience … both Ivan and I go by feel a lot. We’re both very practical.
“I look at the movie and I am very proud of what we made.”
Baker is back
Since The Mentalist finished its seventh season in 2015, there has been a steady flow of award-winning, home-grown work.
Baker received nominations for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for best actor in The Mentalist.
He won a Director’s Guild of Australia award for his 2018 directorial debut Breath, a film adaptation of Tim Winton’s best-selling novel. He also scored an AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) for best supporting actor.
In 2020, Baker starred in and was executive producer for Australian drama, High Ground, appearing alongside fellow actors Witiyana Marika, Jack Thompson and Jacob Junior Nayinggul.
Last year it was a lead role in award-winning Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton’s directorial debut feature, Blaze.
And now Limbo.
He was warmly welcomed on stage alongside Sen, Wanganeen and Rob Collins (who plays her reclusive brother Charlie) after Limbo premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
Critics are saying his lead role is a “career best turn-out for the actor”, and that Baker is “superb as a jaded detective”.
Ioncinema’s Nicholas Bell goes the extra nine yards.
“We’ve never seen Simon Baker quite like this before … hypnotically sinister … Sen’s cinematography is a star unto itself.”
Limbo premieres in cinemas nationally on May 18
