Our Editor’s command of technology is woeful. If he had ever worked for NASA not only would man still be waiting to land on the moon but our Editor would still be outside the office trying to get in until someone points out that you have to pull the handle not push it (‘You’re fired!– Ed). To that end if he, like the protagonist of Missing, had to rely on digital tech on his PC he would still be trying to find the on/off button. Thankfully ‘Missing’ stars Storm Reid as June, a tech savvy teen still pining for her father 12 years after his death. Living with her mother Grace (Nia Long) with whom she has a slightly strained relationship but her mother is now involved in a blooming relationship with Kevin (Ken Leung) who she met online. Mum and her new man are about to go off on a holiday in Columbia where, to the annoyance of her June, she is not being left to her own devices in the house while they’re away but will have daily visits from her mother’s lawyer friend Heather (Amy Landecker).
It’s only when June goes to meet her mum at the airport that things begin to go awry as her mother never arrives, is uncontactable by phone and the hotel tells her they checked out a while ago. She is, as the title suggests, missing. Like the British public hearing that James Corden is ending his US chat show so as to return to the UK, June is understandably traumatized. Worried that something has happened to her mum and she begins to use her social media know how to try and locate her.
Missing is part of a momentary genre of films centred entirely on a PC screen and 2018’s Searching was an exceptionally effective thriller that never moved from the screen of a desk top as John Cho’s character uses all digital means to locate his daughter. Missing follows much the same format and for much of the film is a compelling and dynamic watch as the story unfolds with a plot twist that requires a certain suspension of belief which could have been quickly glossed over if the film was shorter but at two hours it gives the audience a little too long to ponder at the incredulity of what’s happening. Added to this is that unlike ‘Searching’ which stuck rigidly to its PC screen this does move away from this especially towards the end. Missing’s release was momentarily delayed due to the tragic disappearance of Nicola Bulley and the film has some a fleeting but incisive criticism of those social media armchair detectives who got involved in the Bulley missing person investigation posting the most hurtful and bone headed theories that comes with believing that ‘Midsomer Murders’ is a documentary
That aside Missing despite some far fetched moments is an entertainingly inventive thriller
related feature : ‘Searching’ review
related feature: Naughty Boy introduces, ‘What’s Love got to do with it?’
Here’s the Missing trailer…….
