Missing Review

Theatrical Review

Movies that have a filming gimmick as their draw are nothing new. Sometimes they can be wildly successful, like the illusion of a single shot in films like “1917” or “Birdman.” Sometimes, like in the 1995 “Nick of Time” that was a movie that was run in real time, or 2015’s “Hardcore Henry” that was filmed in first person, they miss the mark. Ultimately, it becomes a question as to whether the gimmick enhances the movie or is just a fun bit with no substance to back it up. This year, directors Nick Johnson and Will Merrick have given us another kind of novelty film in “Missing,” a film that takes place entirely on the screens of the characters in the movie.

June (Storm Reid) is a young woman who has a fraught relationship with her mother, Grace (Nia Long). When Grace plans a week-long trip with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung) that runs over Father’s Day, June feels betrayed, as her mother seems to be erasing her deceased father’s memory. But when neither Grace or Kevin return from Columbia when they were supposed to, and June is unable to reach her mother by phone, she begins to investigate what happened. The deeper she looks, the more confused she becomes. Is anyone who they say they are?

This movie was a lot of fun. The bulk of the film is shown on June’s laptop, as she receives texts, hires various gig workers, monitors the Ring app, and hacks into various accounts trying to figure out what happened to her mother. It sometimes jumps to various social media apps to show time spent away from June’s computer, but despite the stratagem of using only screens to show the action, the movie itself has an interesting story. There are constant twists and turns and when I thought I knew what was going to happen, it changed enough to keep me engaged. 

I also thought it did a good job of exposing just how little privacy we have out in the world and how our voyeurism keeps us hooked on true crime narratives that may or may not be particularly true. And it did both of these without seeming preachy.

The performances were engaging, particularly Reid’s turn as June. She carries the bulk of the film on her young shoulders, and she injects enough pathos into her performance that she was able to carry me along with her emotions. The interactions with her and Joaquim de Almeida as Columbian TaskRabbit Javi were particularly well done, even as they took place over a pixelated WhatsApp video call.

The climax was definitely a bit overwrought, and there were for sure a few moments that the screen gimmick felt forced, but overall this was a slick, interesting, well-written, and well-performed thriller mystery. I appreciate it when filmmakers take some risks to create a different viewing experience, and I appreciate it more when those risks elevate an already interesting story.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on January 22, 2023.