Review:
"Missing"
Release Date: Jan. 20, 2023.
Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 111 minutes Pioneered by Timur Bekmambetov, the screenlife subgenre has yet to achieve a found footage-level of popularity despite the constant efforts of the Russian filmmaker responsible for producing the chiller Unfriended and the thriller Searching. Yes, British director Rob Savage scored an early pandemic streaming smash with Host, but his follow-up Dashcam drowned in the dubious politics of its star, right-wing troll Annie Hardy. Not one to let go of a good idea, Bekmambetov remains committed to sponsoring narrative stories told through the use of computer and mobile devices. And why shouldn’t he? While no longer a novelty, screenlife remains underutilized and hence appealing to a generation addicted to TikTok. Which brings us to Missing. Executive produced by Bekmambetov, this spiritual sequel to Searching proves that screenlife can still be a vital means of telling certain stories by those who understand and appreciate the format’s obvious constraints. Luckily, Searching editors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick do. They take over directing chores from Searching co-writer/director Aneesh Chaganty, delivering a tight and taut thriller from the twist-filled script they wrote from a story by Chaganty and his Searching co-writer Sev Othian. As with Searching, which found John Cho investigating his daughter’s disappearance, Missing focuses on a single protagonist who must juggle a multitude of devices and navigate social media platforms to find a loved one who has vanished seemingly without a trace. Johnson and Merrick flip the script with Missing, placing Storm Reid’s high school graduate June in the harrowing position of having to search for her missing mother Grace (Nia Long). Grace and her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung) disappear days toward the end of their vacation in Colombia. Forced to play armchair detective from Los Angeles, June uses the technology available to her in a bid to retrace her mother’s digital footprint in hopes of finding her and Kevin. While much of Missing is set in the house June shares with Grace, Johnson and Merrick follow the blueprint set by Searching to effectively and efficiently open up the film via video conferencing services, streaming platforms, surveillance cameras, and news footage. Boasting seamless editing by Austin Keeling and Arielle Zakowski, Missing maintains a relentless sense of urgency that keeps us engaged in June’s plight while helpfully glossing over some of the film’s less probable moments. Johnson and Merrick know this technology makes the world a smaller place, and they take strong advantage of the surveillance society we live in to tell Missing, but they throw enough obstacles in June’s way to often frustrate her or lead her down the wrong path. Nothing comes easy to June, which makes Missing’s final resolution all the more satisfying. Most of the fun from Missing comes from trying to piece together all the clues, and not falling for Johnson and Merrick’s misdirection, in order to guess where Grace’s disappearance leads June. Even then, it’s impossible to figure out what happened to Grace until Johnson and Merrick decide it is time to reveal all. Of course, Missing wouldn’t matter half as much if Reid, Johnson, and Merrick failed to fully invest us in June’s search for her missing mother. June remains traumatized by the death of her father’s death when she was around 3 years of age, which not only informs but intensifies June’s motivation to find the mother she previously dismissed as being too overprotective. Placed in the demanding position of having to act directly to the camera, Reid turns June into a tenacious amateur sleuth at the same time as grappling with and/or pushing aside all the emotions that come with processing the disappearance of the most important person in her life as well as the hard truths she learns during the search. Missing may be a film fueled by the technology we all take for granted. But it never takes for grant the person who places their trust in the technology we rely on daily. Robert Sims Aired: Jan. 17, 2023. Web sites: https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/missing https://www.missing.movie/ https://www.facebook.com/SearchingMovie/ |
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