DAVID ADAMS watches a film set entirely in the digital world…
Missing (AU-M/UK-15/US-PG-13 )
In a word: Surprising
Storm Reid plays June in ‘Missing’. PICTURE: Courtesy of Screen Gems/© 2022 CTMG, All Rights Reserved.
There’s no doubting the increasingly important role our digital devices are playing in our lives. Missing, like the previous film Searching, taps into that trend with the entire film shown via the digital interactions of teenager June (played by Storm Reid).
“While the idea of shooting a film entirely through a digital lens on life is no longer new – it was used to great effect in the John Cho film Searching as well as notably in a Modern Family episode – it can take a little getting used to. There may initially be an urge to want to get beyond the screen to the person behind it, but for those who can lean into it, Missing will prove a satisfying story.”
While the idea of shooting a film entirely through a first person digital lens on life is no longer new – it was used to great effect in the John Cho film Searching among others as well as notably in a Modern Family episode – it can take a little getting used to. There may initially be an urge to want to get beyond the screen to the person behind it, but for those who can lean into it, Missing will prove a satisfying story.
The action starts with 18-year-old June’s mother Grace (Nia Long) and her new beau Kevin (Ken Leung) leaving her home alone for the first time (albeit watched over somewhat by neighbour Heather, played by Amy Landecker) while they untake a trip to Colombia. June, who lives alone with her mother after her father’s death, doesn’t waste anytime in enjoying the fact her mother is away, culminating in a “rager” at the home. But when it’s time for Grace to return, June arrives late at the airport to find she hasn’t arrived.
June quickly turns amateur sleuth and, with the aid of friend Veena and Heather, who happens to be a lawyer, begins deploying an arsenal of electronic weapons – everything from accessing social media accounts to employing people on the ground through online gig hire companies – to track down her mother. But she quickly finds that all is not what it seems in any of their lives and is drawn, byte by byte, into a life and death struggle for survival.
The plot moves at a rather dizzying pace so you’ll need to pay attention and while the speed with which the digital hunt unfolds can stretche credibility at times, there’s enough here to keep you watching just to see where the finger of accusation finally ends up pointing. The actors are somewhat limited in scope given the way the film’s shot but then that’s not really the point of this movie. It’s all about the race to the end.
At times gripping, Missing is a cleverly-made and well-shot mystery which provides a diverting couple of hours of entertainment while at the same time underlining, in a somewhat scary way, just how much of our lives may now be spent – and hence accessible – online.
