[Fantastic Fest] Review: Missing
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
TW: Violence against women, sexual assault, murder
Japanese director Shinzô Katayama’s sophomore film Missing makes its premiere in the US this weekend at Fantastic Fest. This crime thriller was already an official selection at Busan International Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival and it’s very clear as to why.Missing opens on a man named Santoshi (Jiro Sato) as he tells his daughter Kaede (Aoi Ito) that he spotted a wanted serial killer (Hiroya Shimizu) on his way home and that he plans to find the killer to turn in for the cash reward. Santoshi falls asleep on the living room armchair as Kaede goes off to bed, only for her to awake in the morning and find the chair empty. Kaede and one of her classmates set off to uncover what happened to Santoshi.
Just when the plot gets going, the perspective of the film changes, flashing forward in time to when Santoshi’s wife Kimiko (Toko Narushima) is alive and living with ALS. The disease has made it extremely difficult for her to live and Santoshi feels defeated witnessing all of her pain. He discovers her twitter account where she expresses wanting to die, and has asked him multiple times to kill her. In a chance encounter, Santoshi meets serial killer “No Name” and hires him to kill his wife, and he does.
The perspective and time shift again for the film, this time focusing on No Name as he discovers his desire to kill. This leads him to his encounter with Santoshi and the pair go into business finding victims online who express their wish to die. Santoshi finds and contacts the victims and No Name goes through with the murder. The plot comes to a head as the timelines collapse into one another and Kaede finds her father, who has defeated No Name, framing him for the entirety of the crimes. It’s only a matter of time, however, until Kaede uses her sleuthing skills to discover the truth about her father.
Missing follows the tone of a Bong Joon Ho crime thriller, which makes sense considering that Katayama was an assistant director on Mother (2009). The film is incredibly bleak, but what makes the film a standout is its daring ability to question the morals surrounding violence and death. One scene depicts Santoshi as he makes a deal with a woman who pays No Name to kill her. Santoshi hysterically cries as he ties the woman up, yet she hysterically laughs at the situation. The contrast of their simultaneous emotions on opposite extreme ends is precisely how the film depicts its own morals. Santoshi enters a life of crime as a service to his wife, respecting what he believes to be her wishes, but the film begs the question: in the end is this what she wanted?
No Name quite literally gets off when he murders; he finds great pleasure in killing. This leads him to manipulate Santoshi, convincing him that victims are asking for death and that they are doing the person a service. Desperate for a life’s purpose after his wife’s illness, Santoshi buys into the narrative. By the end of the film, it’s really not clear if there is ever an answer or conclusion to be made about the two different intentions behind their murders.
While we know murder is wrong and that taking pleasure in violence is unnerving, how do desire and power complicate those concepts? Does intentionality really change the perspective and feeling towards intentional violence? The only word of warning about the film is that there are graphic violent scenes of murder and mutilation. While most of the violence does not take place on screen, there are shots included of victims before and after their murder and it can be upsetting. Along with its complicated ethics, Missing is superbly shot with knockout performances from the entire cast. This film is extremely unique in its premise and is masterful in its ability to let the mystery unfold in such a captivating manner. This is not one to miss!
Dark Star Pictures and Bloody Disgusting have plans for a US theatrical release of Missing on November 4, 2022 and a video on demand release on November 18, 2022, so definitely check it out when you can.