‘Missing’ (2022) Review: A Complex Murder Mystery Loses the Connection
Shinzô Katayama’s Missing is a gruesome thriller which follows a young girl’s quest to find her missing father. The Japanese writer-director Katayama’s directorial debut explores the dynamics of family mixed with a genre-blending story that keeps the viewers guessing. It’s a complex story that questions the characters’ moral ambiguity, layered with mystery and murder. An intense slow-burn movie shows a young girl dealing with her missing father and her attempt to find him before he becomes a serial killer’s victim.
Missing begins with Kaeda (Aoi Ito) in her school uniform as she runs through the streets of Osaka to get to her father, Santoshi (Jirô Satô), who is held by the police due to shoplifting. On the way home, Santoshi tells his young daughter that he saw the serial killer, “No Name” (Hiroya Shimizu). The prospect of earning the reward money excites Santoshi, as his family doesn’t have many resources or money to support each other. Kaeda dismisses her father and goes to sleep but when she wakes up the next morning, he is missing. She decides to hunt down her father and traces him back to his old workplace. She discovers that a co-worker has the same name as her father and they don’t seem convinced that he works there. This co-worker has the same appearance as the serial killer, and Kaeda begins to suspect that Santoshi may be in more serious danger than ever.
Katayama explores the perspectives of Kaeda, Santoshi and No Name, the serial killer. It is constructed in a way that slowly peels off the layers. First, Kaeda deals with her father’s disappearance and murder; then the story switches to the serial killer, who has had a history of problematic behaviour and gets caught by the neighbours. Lastly, Santoshi’s perspective is extremely gruelling to watch, as he tries to deal with certain circumstances regarding his wife’s health. There’s not a single perspective that shows the exact truth. Everyone is morally ambiguous, and it becomes even more dangerous when the stories intersect together.
The problem with Missing is that even though this form of storytelling is intriguing, the characters tend to lose themselves. Changing perspectives amplify the story’s narrative, but it comes at a cost. The killer’s one-sided motive for committing atrocious murders lies in salvation. Perhaps it might have needed a bit more explanation but the story changes perspective again before it gets to that moment. It doesn’t allow the characters to delve deeper into their issues and the themes, and eventually, connect everything together. Also, Kaeda’s story could have been explored a lot more. Her childhood living in poverty and the death of her mother could have been the emotional force driving the plot. The circumstances in which her family has dealt with these internal conflicts could have been explored much deeper than focusing on the serial killer’s motives.
Missing is worth a watch. It explores the complexity of Japanese society and how socioeconomics adds a layer to social commentary. While the movie could have used some time to flesh out the character dynamics and delve deeper into their internal conflicts, the ending is satisfying. A murder mystery that blends and somehow meets the expectation, albeit, with a few issues, such as losing the characters, and the lack of urgency and tension.
