John Sayles, the dean of American indie filmmakers, writer/director of such masterpieces of character, setting, and technique as Lone Star, Matewan, and Men With Guns, has it all figured out. He works on scripts for other peoples’ big commercial studio movies -- everything from Roger Corman’s Piranha (which launched James Cameron’s career) to Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 to the next Schwarzenegger vehicle, The End of Days -- then uses the money to finance doing what he wants. Which is a good thing, because there is no way in Helena, Montana his latest film would have gotten made if it had required signing off by some manicured mogul.

Set in fictional Port Henry, Alaska, Limbo features Sayles’s trademark ploy of overlapping stories that to some degree coalesce in a central narrative. And as usual, there are big contemporary issues at stake -- fishing and timber industries, tourism, the environment -- against which the characters live their smaller stories. David Strathairn (Simon Birch, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) plays Joe Gastineau, local sports hero in his youth, now taciturn, fatalistic handyman, who gave up the salmon boats decades ago after a freak accident cost him a couple friends’ lives. When circumstance conspires to put him out on the water again, he unwittingly invites a rare love interest, flighty lounge singer Donna (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and her self-abusive, fanciful daughter Noelle (Vanessa Martinez, also in Lone Star) on a simple leisure cruise that turns into a nightmare.

But that’s oversimplifying immensely, seeing how the buildup takes at least half the film’s two-hour-plus running time. Sayles always bides his time, weaving intricate, complex details in a way that leads you to think about serious things without realizing you’re being so lead. Compared to his other work, Limbo is even more deliberate that usual. And it ends in a thoroughly non-commercial manner that will either inspire head-shaking admiration or frustrated incredulity.

This would make an excellent video to watch if you’re trying to get a gathering of people to discuss something other than the weather or the new Rage Against the Machine CD. B

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