18-year-old June Allen (Storm Reed from “Euphoria” and “The Last of Us”) with an indifferent look, bids farewell to his mother, Grace, a must-have for every young person. (Nia Long from “The Best Man”) and her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung of Lost) On a romantic trip to Colombia. The next days are like fog: summer vacation, the big ones are gone, which means the parties are flowing into each other. Of the obligatory things – just to meet my mother at the airport on the appointed day. However, the plane arrives without Grace and Kevin on board. Where they went is unknown. June immediately goes to the police, but at the same time tries to find her mother herself from afar.
In recent years, director and producer Timur Bekmambetov has gotten a little tired of preaching the (not really) screen life movie format he invented, where, to be honest, all the action happens on the screens of electronic devices. However, it is worth recognizing that in some cases these projects have truly managed to impress. One such hit in 2018 was The Search, the thriller in which John Cho’s character tries to find his missing daughter, mostly without getting up from his laptop. Missing, the indirect sequel to The Search, at least repeats its success – if not surpasses it. Will Merrick, who directed the film, and Nick Johnson, who edited The Search, and Anish Chaganti, who replaced them, followed the process from the producer’s chair. The project hasn’t suffered from staff changes and newcomers at the helm: Merrick and Johnson clearly understand what they’re doing perfectly, because when it comes to screen life, an additional storytelling burden falls on fiction – and its role is noticeably increased. importance. The same “Search” was shot once in 13 days (mainly on Chaganti’s iPhone), but it took a year and a half to edit.
Bekmambetov talks about how for almost a decade screen life reflects the fact that everyone is looking at different screens almost constantly, but this reality seems to have fully caught up with the Night’s Watch writer’s attitude, just the coronavirus pandemic. Still, the fact that tension builds from the way John Cho or Storm Reed peeks through a webcam’s peephole still doesn’t quite fit the head. But no, his heartbeat really quickens when he sees the erratic movements of the mouse cursor. The loading wheel, which means that the password of the precious account is still taken, cheers you up. And from the irritation of the hero Reed by the need to download WhatsApp, a knowing smile spontaneously appears on his face, since nowhere else in Colombia can an old man be contacted.
The most surprising thing is that all this very successfully masks the simplicity of the story itself, so that in the finale it is not tormented by the thought that all the tension is pretty wasted and the game is not worth the candle. In fairness, “Lost” is also made according to all the laws of a sequel, much richer – including complex thriller. What’s more, the tape plays with the audience quite creatively, and for the first two-thirds it pretends that this is the same movie as last time (there’s even a similar nostalgic prologue where they let you look at an old Windows Media Player). , except maybe the updated interface (in that sense, screen life has such an unpleasant feature that it gets old very quickly – not remaking every movie year after year after the new macOS is released). But then “Missing Girl” starts to fill with surprises and surprises – and there’s no reason to resist her charms any longer. It’s not that simple, who says it is a reliable narrator, owls are not what they seem, etc. As a bonus, the tape also combines the Search series (its plot becomes a true crime documentary on Netflix) and Chaganty’s thriller Locked Up, in which Sarah Paulson terrorizes her daughter in a wheelchair (which is briefly mentioned in the news release). Well, today without universes, apparently nowhere, but here everything is organized, at least without the hateful “Marvel dissish” glory, so you inadvertently penetrate.
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