Synopsis
The movie tells the story of a daughter trying to find her father who went missing shortly after explaining that he happened to see a wanted serial killer marked with a 3 million yen bounty.
Missing
2021 ‘さがす’ Directed by Shinzo Katayama
Cast
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Confusing; curious; depressing; disjointed; messy; overlong; slow; tedious; underwhelming.
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When it all comes together, it comes together beautifully, and at its best, Missing crackles with life and raw emotion. Its unfocused digressions are regrettable, but there is a lot of promise to Katayama's vision, and his second outing establishes him as a director who's worth keeping an eye on.
Wrote about Shinzô Katayama's mystery thriller Missing over at In Review Online. You can read it here.
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"No, thank you."
Disappointing crime drama; nonsensical, inconsistent, diffuse, predictable and trivial. It's tone is all over the place, none of the characters were really interesting, the plot became quite predictable after little run time, I honestly struggled to get through 😬
Easily skippable.
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The second feature film from Shinzo Katayama (friend of Bong Joon-Ho and AD on his incredible Mother [2009]), Missing is an extraordinary and lengthy look at a serial killer, a daughter, and the daughter's dad who goes missing after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is it all as simple as that sounds? Is anything ever?
Twists, turns, and a heaping amount of depression follows, in addition to homages to Memories of Murder, another Joon-Ho film. Not as good, but still fairly surprising and with some breathtaking scenes, including its final (and maybe most memorable) one
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Jiro Sato is pretty incredible in Missing, but I found it to be relentlessly bleak, and not in an interesting way. There are character moments that don't work for me (especially the daughter/boyfriend stuff), and the serial killer character felt a bit edgy for the sake of it. In addition to some over-written dialogue, I just felt like this film really wants to feel more twisted and clever than it actually ends up being. I felt a bit letdown.
Fantastic Fest 2022
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A teenage daughter (Aoi Ito) looks for her missing single-father (Jiro Sato) who might have been abducted by a wanted serial killer he told her he spotted earlier...
A very dark, twisty-turny multi-layered story which doesn't always land in terms of credibility but relies on good story-telling and an amazing cast. In terms of style and pacing it could even pass as a Korean genre-effort but still couldn't be more Japanese in its themes after all.
So, despite focusing on the father/serial killer relationship and the dynamics resulting from that, MISSING is most of all a family drama: how the death of the mother affected the survivors and the dark paths it opened up for them. This angle should have… -
#30 — さがす
Without spoiling too much, I thought from the English title and the poster on LB and Blu-Ray cover that this was going to be Korean Thriller in the likes of something like Taken. But again without spoiling too much it is not that whatsoever.
In fact it is much better than that.
Alls I can say is give this a shot if you enjoy thrillers.
Jirô Satô is amazing in this film. I love that he can play this serious role and the stuttering Lolita complexed Henpeita Takechi in the live action Gintama movie.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🧡
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“I prefer girls that don’t move”
Bleak, mean, and captivating from start to finish. A serial killer thriller that will break you down just as much as it will enthrall you.
One of my favorite films of Fantastic Fest but it’s not for the weak stomach due to its subject matter.
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“They asked me what I thought about euthanasia. I said I'm more concerned about the adults.“ - Jay London
A movie about how if you’re posting on Twitter, chances are it’s a cry for help and you want to die
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Wow! To say this one packs a punch is an understatement!
If you’re familiar with Shinzô’s debut SIBLINGS FROM THE CAPE then you already know he isn’t afraid to tackle morality head on, but the way he does it here is exceptional.
Aoi Itô’s performance is astonishing 😵
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You do feel the weight of its runtime, but this human drama disguised as a serial killer thriller is worth the investment. One of the best teenage girl protagonists to come along in awhile, it's the father-daughter relationship at the center of the story that really makes this film special. This one makes some interesting turns which provide an emotional weight you might not expect from how the movie starts.