Shinzô Katayama learned from the best, playing the role of Second Unit Director in Bong Joon Ho's amazing Mother. He applies much of that film's family drama/murder mystery theme to his own thriller, Missing.
Kaede (Aoi Itô) is a bit tired of taking care of her father, Harada (Jirô Satô). Her depression and debt have only gotten worse since her mother's suicide. She is tired of being the adult. She so tired of it that she dismisses her plot to track down the serial killer "No Name" for the reward money. When he disappears, she wishes she had taken him more seriously.
Director: Shinzô Katayama
Writers: Shinzô Katayama, Kazuhisa Kotera, Ryô Takada
Stars: Jirô Satô, Aoi Itô, Hiroya Shimizu
Skits are missing in parts, and Part 1 takes on the frustration and fear of Kaede's story. Itô convinces as the child maneuvering in an adult world, complete with the frustrations, condescension and outbursts that this implies. The acting never leans towards sentiment, never asks for our sympathy, and is all the more fascinating for it.
The veteran Satô has no problem finding an empathic approach to a character that is above his head. Satô complicates this questionable but lovable father figure. Harada is never a simple fool, he is always a loving family man. But he is very, very flawed.
We also get Harada's side of the story, but between the two of us we see a bit from the Nameless One's (Hiroya Shimizu) perspective. After establishing a tense and layered drama, Katayama, who co-writes with Kazuhisa Kotera and Ryô Takada, takes the story towards horror.
Shimizu's oily acting slides from apathy to curiosity to insincerity to sadism with unsettling ease. You support the estranged daughter and father, clearly out of his league, but Katayama's vision is more complicated than that.
Katayama allows moral ambiguity to enrich the film, making you lose your balance and unsure of your allegiances. Three solid performances keep you intrigued and guessing, but the filmmaker surrounds them with a variety of oddities. No character in the movie is really flat, they are all a surprise.
Buried in this heady mystery is a thread about justice versus self-interest and the surprising joy of ping pong. It's a riveting feature debut from a director who knows how to play you.
Watch Missing 2022 Movie Trailer
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