A GIRL MISSING
In this slow-burning thriller, Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) works as a home-care nurse to the elderly matriarch of the Oisho family — long enough to feel like part of the family. She’s closest to the eldest sister, Motoko (Mikako Ichikawa), who’s studying to follow in Ichiko’s footsteps.
However, their happy routine is disrupted when Motoko’s sister, Saki (Miyu Ogawa), is abducted. The girl is eventually returned, but it’s discovered that her kidnapper was Ichiko’s nephew — a fact that Motoko insists they keep between them. It’s this shared secret that forges an even closer bond between the two, yielding further confessions — some of which may be turned into weapons.
One of the finest Japanese writer/directors to emerge in the last decade, Kôji Fukada has earned renown for crafting suspenseful dramas. Following 2016’s Harmonium, which captured Cannes’ prestigious Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, he returns with A Girl Missing a taut portrait of a woman caught up in a spiral of defamation.
photos courtesy of Film Movement
A Girl Missing
Film Movement
Drama | 111 minutes | Japan | no rating
in Japanese with English subtitles
opens July 31, 2020, on Film Movement
