The Missing Person (2009) User Reviews

Message movie masquerading as mystery

[dfranzen70 · 7/10 · 28 July 2010]

The Missing Person is, on the surface, about an alcoholic ex-cop who's assigned to find the titular character and bring him home to his wife. But it's much more than that; it's a look at how the survivors of the September 11 attacks continued with their lives, post-tragedy, and it's about man's powers of self redemption. It's a character study in the guise of a film noir mystery.

John Rosow, played by Michael Shannon, is contacted by a mysterious client to follow a man from Chicago to LA, find out what he's up to, and then bring him home to New York. But Rosow's investigation unearths more than a simple retrieval mission, and ultimately it reveals a heck of a lot about him and his past, particularly in how he has dealt with losing his wife during the 9/11 attacks.

Because, you see - and you will, early on, no spoiler here - the missing person is one of the many who simply were never heard from again after the attacks on the Twin Towers. Many of those people were (and are) presumed dead, but some may have behaved like Harold Fullmer (Frank Wood) and moved elsewhere to get on with their lives anew. Harold's up to something, but luckily for us it's not something nefarious (that would have been too obvious, certainly), and soon Rosow is faced with a moral quandary - should he let Harold stay where he is, or is he obligated to bring him back east? Shannon is superb, a craggy, world-weary Johnny Law who's been leaning on the drink for far too long. We've seen these oversoaked cops before, the ones who are either cold-shocked by tragedy or just numbed to everyday horrors. But below the seen-it-all surface, Rosow has plenty of issues, plenty of bad memories, and plenty of guilt.

Thus there are dovetailing plots - the apprehension of Fullmer and the redemption of Rosow. Writer Noah Buschel, who also directed, has crafted a rich, crusty mystery thriller into a psychological study of the long-term effects of a truly horrific day in American history, particularly on individuals; in this case, one man flees his memories, while the other embraces them nightly.

I wanted to mention this movie in particular, because it's certainly not one that most people have heard of (it's now on DVD). It's a quiet, subtle look at an event that was itself nothing but. It's well written and insightful into the psyche of a survivor, and it includes a commanding performance by Shannon (nominated for an Oscar for Revolutionary Road, overshadowing both Kate Winslet and the overacting of Leonardo Dicaprio) along with strong support from Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone).

moody, neo-film noir

[Buddy-51 · 7/10 · 27 October 2010]

In "The Missing Person," Michael Shannon goes the Bogart route, playing a cynical, booze-soaked private detective who's hoping to find a little redemption in his latest assignment, trailing a man he knows little to nothing about – not even his name. But before long, John discovers that there's much more to this man than meets the eye, and that the two of them are strangely linked to one another through the tragedy of 9/11. In a way, each of them is a "missing person," one in a literal and one in a figurative sense. Indeed, the best thing about "The Missing Person" is that just as you think the movie is about one thing, it turns out to be about something else altogether.

This moody, bluesy, boozy movie, written and directed by Noah Buschel and co-starring Amy Adams, is deliberate in its pacing and borderline pretentious in style, with characters who speak in clipped phrases, uttering half-articulated thoughts and hardboiled wisecracks as the details of the story spin themselves out. It may not be for every taste, but the movie hauntingly captures the different but equally intense responses people can have to trauma and loss.

Deliberately weary modern noir...at times quite arresting, and with a terrific lead performance

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 4 July 2011]

Michael Shannon is one of the finest new character actors working in films today; his performance here as a private investigator from New York, hired to trail a middle-aged man from Chicago to Los Angeles by train, is the centerpiece of "The Missing Person"...and is very nearly the entire show. Writer-director Noah Buschel was probably hoping to modernize the old private eye clichés (including booze, broads, and blaring saxophones on the soundtrack), but his movie doesn't really start cooking for at least a quarter of an hour into the proceedings. Buschel's pacing is deliberately slow, and Shannon's John Rosow is intentionally beleaguered and burnt-out, yet there's no reason to be so poky with this narrative (even Bogie livened up earlier on one of his cases). The film is well-produced and shot, though it runs the risk of losing viewers before it starts to take shape. Once it does, it becomes a rather fascinating throwback, its scenario seesawing between the old and new--like Philip Marlowe in the cell-phone era. **1/2 from ****

Agree And Disagree

[GManfred · 29 October 2012]

Can't tell you how hard I tried to like "The Missing Person". Right off the bat, you can see it is an imitation noir, an attempt to recall a bygone era in movies, and they got a down-at-the-heels, alcoholic 'private eye' to be the hero - and being a likable sort, you root for him. The color is not splashy but almost a sepia, two-tone effect that works well with the mood of the picture.

However.

As noted by several reviewers, it takes forever to get going but then maintains the same slow, plodding pace throughout the film. And the hero, played by Michael Shannon, severely underplays his part and seems to be in a stupor in some scenes, so sluggish does he appear. That may be what the director was looking for, but he is at times in danger of fading into the wallpaper and losing command of what are essentially his scenes. Lastly, too much plot explanation was saved for the final scenes and became almost too much to absorb; It makes you wonder if you got the gist of the story.

I hope this was a learning experience for director Buschel and I applaud his effort and concept. I hope he makes more and better pictures. And I hope he is not offended by the fact that a highlight of the movie for me was Thelonious Monk's version of an old standard, "I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance", played over the final credits. It was perfection, a haunting rendition played slowly and using very few fingers.

A Classic Film Noir that's not quite a classic

[wmjaho · 6/10 · 19 January 2009]

The last great film noir was A Touch of Evil, made 51 years ago. But the genre has never lost its allure and every now and then a filmmaker attempts a neo-noir, some succeeding famously (Chinatown, Body Heat) but most lacking the soul of the classic noirs from the 40's and 50's.

In The Missing Person, director Noah Buschel tries valiantly to recreate the original genre. First, the classic protagonist: Hot star Michael Shannon (Reservation Road) plays John Rosow, a chain-smoking, gin-soaked private detective living in a run-down apartment next to the Chicago L. Then the familiar set-up. A stranger calls and offers way too much money to do what sounds like a simple job. And finally, the twisted tale: Rosow, a former street-smart New York cop, smells something rotten, but is spurred by the money and the conviction that he will be able to outplay the other players.

Shannon makes an intriguing protagonist, grizzled and degenerate but with just enough heart and humanity to make him sympathetic. Unfortunately, the weight of the movie falls entirely on his shoulders. The plot winds its way, with a steady stream of surprises and revelations, but none of them particularly compelling. The secondary characters, especially the perfunctory love-interest, are underdeveloped. And so, despite Shannon's heroic efforts, the film stumbles, and ultimately is tripped up by incredulity and apathy.

Despite these criticisms, film noir lovers will still find enough to enjoy to make the movie worth watching. Just don't expect Orson Welles.

The P.I.

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 11 July 2010]

It might be easy to dismiss "The Missing Person" as a derivative film that tries to cash on the noir genre. Staying with it will pay off, even though it is an uneven picture, only saved by the mood and the atmosphere director Noah Buschel created for his audience. The film delves into a story that is logical and it makes one wonder how many other cases like the one at the center of the story have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous people trying to cash in a truly American tragedy.

John Rosow tells us in the opening passages about the only thing that made him become involved in this mystery was because he answered a telephone call. Little did he know he was going to be drawn into an intriguing tale following a man that, for all practical purposes, has been proclaimed dead. When he is made an offer he cannot refuse following Harold Fullmer to Los Angeles from Chicago, he has no idea what he will become involved in.

Harold Fullmer was supposed to have died on the 9/11 attacks to the World Trade Center in New York. What nobody knows is that he has survived the tragedy and has decided to get a new life away from his past. Harold decides to save young children that have been abused against their will. He brings them into a Mexican town where a shady character is supposed to see they are returned to their innocent lives before they were made victims.

Noah Buschel, the creator of the film, has gone for style and mood, rather than a plausible story. One can only questions Fullmer's vision about the good deeds he is supposed to be doing. Turning the damaged children he is supposed to be saving to a man whose morals leave a lot to be desired, does not speak well of his sense of justice. The character of John Rosow recalls a cross between other screen sleuths, mainly Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, to mention just two. The enigmatic Charlie, a peripheral minor player is also an enigma. Ultimately John Rosow's role in that fatal attack is revealed and his motive of siding with Fullmer is clearly understood.

Michael Shannon makes an impressive Rosow. This young actor keeps getting better all the time. He is an actor that takes a while to get used to, but he delivers big time as the complex man that has also suffered a great loss. Amy Ryan has a small role as Charlie. The excellent Margaret Colin serves as a distraction for Rosow in Los Angeles while his investigation is in full swing. Frank Wood looks catatonic most of the time in his take of Harold Fullmer.

the noir the merrier

[frankopy-2 · 7/10 · 3 March 2011]

What director Noah Buschel has concocted with "The Missing Person" is to take a genre and fine tune it with touches that, while original, ultimately pay homage to, and even nourish, noir.

What he has done,too, is set up any number of movies he might want to make with the masterly Michael Shannon as private eye John Rosow; and re-recruit, too, the saucily effective Amy Ryan.

This moody artwork about finding a mysteriously but voluntary missing person has all sorts of twists and turns, none predictable, as it weaves its way through the dark.

That Shannon plays roles Bogart feasted on is all too true. but it is the rugged countenance of Mitchum that he more facilely brings to mind.

Shannon,so powerful in the film "Revolutionary Road" and then HBO's raunchy and real "Boardwalk Empire" series, and yet again in the rock film "The Runaways," is special, indeed. His screen effect is compelling,mesmerizing.

All we need now is a script and the word "Action!"

slow corny badly written detective 30s flat lines--modern PC sensibilities

[filmalamosa · 1/10 · 23 August 2012]

I feel obliged to write this to warn people--hard to understand the good reviews for this dumb boring movie. Maybe because it is about 911?

The story and plot are stupid and full of holes. This movie moves extremely slowly and feeds you no information on what is going on. John Rosow is a NYC cop who lost his wife in 911 (you find this out only about 15 minutes from the end through glacially paced flashbacks)--you know nothing of this (or anything else!) except at the very end. He is hired and paid $500 a day to follow a man named Harold Palmer boarding a train in Chicago.

John Rosow is now an alcoholic private investigator working out of Chicago--he was formerly a cop responding to 911. All the 911 connections don't come out until the very end of the movie. His acting consists of squinting and grimacing as much as possible. The movie tries to create a few words 30s detective macho image--with modern sensibilities (PC stuff)--he is sensitive to children etc...Oh yes he gives back the $500,000 he earns from Palmers wife. What kind of a macho detective is that?! The actor gave it his all but he was hobbled by the above--

Harold Palmer turns out to be someone who took advantage of 911 to disappear. People thought he was killed. His rich wife finds out he is alive and wants him back a lawyer wants him to remain missing as a huge insurance settlement has just taken place. Palmer now works taking abandoned children to a Mexico orphanage run by drug dealers. We learn later his own son was kidnapped and killed.

The movie is filmed in stark sepia faded colors I guess to reflect the ruined lives of 911...

The story is badly written with endless cliché flat lines. It keeps you in the dark...nothing exciting happens..nothing suspenseful...because you don't know what is going on! Oh yes besides the lawyer the FBI are following Palmer due to the drug dealer run orphanage. Wouldn't they squelch the insurance fraud? None of it makes sense. You don't know who is who...who is working for the lawyer? who is calling him on the phone? Worse you don't care after awhile.

If a story at it's core makes no sense (the insurance claim) and the FBI the whole things falls apart. In addition this story is dished out in such a slow and confusing way..

DO NOT WATCH YOU WILL REGRET IT

Elegant, Sad, Funny Rumination on Loneliness and Loss

[shirleyclyde · 9/10 · 27 February 2009]

This movie reminded me a bit of James Gray's movies. Simply shot, actor driven, quiet, sincere, and romantic. While "The Missing Person" is much more of an art film than "Two Lovers," I left with the same feeling of having just watched something very personal and very moving. I don't want to give away too much about this movie, but ultimately it is a film about loneliness and being alone. Sound like a downer? It's not. Michael Shannon delivers his best performance yet as a drunk detective who likes to crack himself up with bad jokes(he cracked up the Sundance audience too.) Amy Ryan, Margaret Colin, and a bunch of other familiar faces provide moments of humor and sadness. Mostly what impressed me about "The Missing Person" was that it wasn't hip or clever. And not fancy either. In fact it was almost the opposite of every movie I saw at Sundance. It was mostly just good, honest film-making . Rare qualities indeed in independent film these days.

Artistically filmed with a missing script

[yarra1966 · 6/10 · 12 March 2011]

The cinematography in this film is phenomenal and the direction is superb and skillful. The Missing Person is ultimately tugs at the heartstrings. The lead character played by Michael Shannon is adequate. I don't think he completely had what the role required - something to draw you in. He plays the role too flat. Unfortunately its what brings down my rating on this film to a large degree. I also felt that the script was way too limited in some dialogue or narration. There's one point where you're watching cars following each other for what seems like hours. I was completely engrossed in the beautiful camera and location work in this film and ultimately - I got it.

Terrible. Don't fall for bizarrely good reviews

[ARetroworld · 1/10 · 30 January 2023]

I'm baffled by the apparently positive reception of this movie, and the numerous good reviews.

The neo-noir tone starts off ok, but looks cheap, something from which the film never recovers. Low-budget films can be great, love 'em - but nothing here makes the most of what there is to work with.

The worst offense is ongoing, ludicrous plot points and actions that make no sense at all. Soon into the story, things so absurd happen that I decided we must be in some dream world of Michael Shannon's character, the private eye. It was the only way to excuse the random, coincidental surveillance of his subject. But no.

I'm not going to bother pointing out beat after bad beat. If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't, don't.

Is there a right choice?

[FunchoExpress · 9/10 · 9 January 2011]

Life is often far more complicated than a choice between what we think it's right or wrong. There are so many variables in the game of living, that even after the consequences of the actions we are unable to evaluate the results.

Once again, Michael Shannon surprises us with an extraordinary interpretation of a dense character. The narrative is linear, but the pieces of the puzzle are put together in the right place and time.

Intense darkness and light, irony, sadness, brief fun, every ingredient turns this cocktail into an extraordinary beverage with an exquisite taste.

Make no mistake, this is a superior film.

Damaged Goods

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 18 July 2011]

Seedy private investigator Michael Shannon (as John Rosow) is hired to find missing husband Frank Wood (as Harold Fullmer). He doesn't hold his liquor as well as the detectives he emulates, but Mr. Shannon manages to find a way in the dark. As you might expect, he has second thoughts about his assignment, and finds himself as well. This is a nicely done "film festival" type - involving but not necessarily entertaining - which does not reflect the films it recalls (Humphrey Bogart is mentioned in the script). Writer/director Noah Buschel and Shannon are fine, but you can always see them working.

****** The Missing Person (1/16/09) Noah Buschel ~ Michael Shannon, Frank Wood, Amy Ryan, John Ventimiglia

Catch up on some sleep.

[bombersflyup · 1/10 · 19 March 2019]

The Missing Person is a film of meandering and nothingness.

I know what it's about, but the direction's woeful. I'm not surprised, I haven't seen any more of his work. Why would Shannon's character go through all that and let the guy go and not get paid. So he's back on his feet, Amy Ryan's character's now randomly with him without any development. Tomorrow she could be gone, he could be on the booze again and out of work. Because it's a modern film-noir and late in the film it's revealed it's to do with 9/11, it now somehow hasn't been boring the whole time.

The Flitcraft Parable meets New York Movie

[tieman64 · 15 July 2012]

Michael Shannon has a face built for noir, but writer/director Noah Buschel doesn't exploit it well enough in "The Missing Person". The film's a neo-noir, but slack pacing, amateurish dialogue, unnecessary nods to 9/11 and a low budget hamper things.

Still, the overall arc of Bushchel's screenplay is very interesting. It stars Shannon as John Rosow, a hard-drinking, hard-boiled (is there any other?) private investigator who's tasked with trailing a man named John Fullmer. Here's the interesting part: Rosow learns that Fullmer has been both a "missing person" and presumed dead for many years. Though Rosow is tasked with "bringing in" Fullmer so that he may be reunited with his family, he opts against it. Better to let Fullmer live peacefully in his newly fabricated life. This reprieve echoes Rosow's own private demons, which he too must "let go of" if he hopes to "build a new life". The film suggests that Roscow's evocative of ancient noir gum-shoes precisely because he is always caught "out of time", locked into dwelling about a past that he can't let go of and so keeps on scarring.

The film contains several visual allusions to and recreations of Edward Hopper's "New York Movie", an oil-on-canvas painting from 1939. Why Hopper? Hopper's proved a huge influence on noir. His "Nighthawks" was cooked up after reading Ernest Hemingway's noirish "The Killers" (the filmed version of Hemingway's tale would later be influenced by Hopper's paintings), but even two decades before this, long before noir was even born, Hopper was churning out moody paintings evocative of early noirs. His 1921 etching "Night Shadows", for example, looks like an ahead-of-its-time high-angle shot from a Fritz Lang movie and his "House by the Railside" (and numerous early paintings of anonymous apartment blocks and motels) would prove a huge influence on Hitchcock's "Psycho". Walter Hill ("The Driver", "Hard Times") and Wim Wenders ("Hammet", "Paris Texas", "The American Friend", "The End of Violence") would openly consult Hopper's work when filming the aforementioned films.

So Bushchel's nod to Hopper is no surprise. What's surprising is his choice of "New York Movie". This particular painting consists of a movie usherette (blonde, bosomy; a typical noir gal) leaning against a cinema wall. The painting is then split roughly in half such that its left side is bathed in a darkness which offers only glimpses of audience members and a murky cinema screen, upon which escapist, idyllic rolling hills are projected. Meanwhile, the painting's right half serves as the usherette's own mind-space, well-lit, with passionate red curtains, lamps and a mysterious staircase suggestive of her "thoughts up there". Despite - as is traditional of Hopper - strong feelings of anonymity, loneliness, tranquillity and isolation, you sense a whirlpool of thoughts emanating from the usherette. Significantly, the painting is bisected by a phallic pillar, filled with swirling patterns evocative of nightmarish, half-coalesced thoughts. The pillar almost seems to signify the dividing point where fantasy is either (or bleeds into) projected and externalised (the cinema screen/object) or internalised/contemplated (usherette/subject). Rosow seems caught in a similar dilemma, brooding like the usherette instead of letting go like Hopper's eye-ball zapped audience.

The film's narrative is a loose retelling of "The Flitcraft Parable", a moment of digression in Dashiell Hammett's noir novel "The Maltest Falcon". One of literature's great digressions, the parable involves detective Sam Spade telling a girl the story of a middle class real estate agent called Flitcraft who, after nearly dying, has an existential epiphany. Flitcraft then decides to abandon his wife, kids, large income and perfect American family. "He went just like that," Spade says, "like a fist when you open your hand." The irony is that Spade then stumbles upon Flitcraft several years later living a "new life" almost identical to his "old one". Having wiped the slate clean, Flintcraft thus inadvertently rebuilt that which he was running away from. Men, Spade implies, adjust themselves to the world. Spade, however, adjusts the world to himself. This, of course, is a very Satrean, existential commitment. Bushchel's retelling of the parable doesn't go this far.

7.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Black Dahlia", "The Big Sleep" and "A Prairie Home Companion".

I loved the slower pace and intriguing storyline that keeps the audience guessing ...what's next?

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 12 March 2015]

A good 7 out of 10 rating.

This film noir was perfect casting for Michael Shannon in the lead role as an ex New York cop turned private investigator named John Rosow who can't seem to get through a day without his flask filled with booze. The film opens with John being woken up from another of his drunken stupors to the sound of his ringing phone and a job offer that starts in two hours if he can get his butt down to New York's central train station. His assignment is to trail a person that he has no information about, not even the suspects' name. As soon as the employer hangs up an attractive woman named Miss Charley suddenly appears at John's apartment door with his train ticket, a picture of the suspect he is expected to trail and a cash advance on his payday. Miss Charley is played to perfection by Amy Ryan who is best known for her earlier role as officer Beatrice BEADIE Russell in the highly rated crime series THE WIRE. John takes the assignment simply for the stack of cash being offered and zooms off to the train station.

As the movie progresses (as so does John's drinking binges) John learns a little bit more each day about the suspect including his name which is Harold Fullmer played by Frank Wood. John also wonders why two FBI agents are also interested in trailing his suspect, and the agents are now trailing John. The film was written and directed by Noah Buschel who created a 1940's film noir style for the film with the opening scene designed in a black and white frame and with his star actor Michael Shannon narrating his story as was the style for the day for the 40's and 50's film noir.

I loved the slower pace there were no big brawls and no over the top car crashes or explosions, just great acting and an intriguing storyline that keeps the audience guessing what is going to happen next. There were also some excellent co-star performances by actors John Ventimiglia, Amy Ryan, Paul Sparks and Margaret Colin. I thought the title The Missing Person was appropriate as the hunted as well as the hunter were in some way both missing persons. The ending was well done and I don't want to give anything away because it may spoil the film for your viewing. My recommendation would be to watch this when you just want to relax and be intrigued by a good storyline and some great performances. I give the film a good 7 out of 10 rating.

A Man Out of Time

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 5 July 2012]

Neo-noir is the grandchild of film-noir which basically was an expressionist creative output that started to fade as an artistic style in the late 50's.

Neo-noir style films come in all sorts of forms. This one is an homage in the truest sense. It isn't some sort of underlying influence with a modern panache, it is a bare bones portrayal of a man out of time.

His time is when film noir flourished. A time when you could smoke where you wanted, coffee was made in a percolator on a stove, alcohol was carried in a flask, cops patrolled in cars (not some two wheeled foot extension), phones had a cord attached, and a listening device was a stethoscope.

But our hero has been engulfed in some kind of post 911 time warp, sucked into a nether world where everything is slightly off center . It's a tale of mistaken preconceptions, jazz, and a big cash payout.

A good looking retro feel and an incredible, twisted face, lead performance make this a fine homage and a grandchild worth loving.

great Michael Shannon drags along meandering stylized story

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 May 2015]

Alcoholic private investigator John Rosow (Michael Shannon) is hired by Miss Charley (Amy Ryan) to follow a man on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. The man is traveling with a kid who turns out to be one of the missing presumed dead during 9/11. Rosow has suppose to him bring back to his wife. There are a couple of supposed FBI agents and a woman who sleeps with him but hiding an agenda.

This is a meandering hard-boiled private eye story. Michael Shannon is good as this character. It's not terribly intense. There's only so much that Shannon can do with the material especially if he has to do it as a drunk for the whole movie. The style reminds me of some of the 70s attempt to revive the 50s noir. I like that style but the story needs a lot more tension.

Great Film

[Sharonwebber · 9/10 · 2 August 2009]

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at the Edinburgh Film Festival. While I do not think it will be very popular, for those who like movies that are a little unusual, this one is for you. The pacing, the music, the lighting is all unusual and terrific. The director Noah Buschel spoke after the film and said he was trying to make a noir where everything happened in very ordinary, everyday ways. A "boring noir" is what he called it. In other words, the movie is so low-key that it becomes almost a different genre than noir.

But the movie is by no means some kind of abstract experiment. It had me crying hard at the end of the movie. The credit goes to Buschel and Michael Shannon. Shannon breaks through to another level in this movie, adding a sweetness that I hadn't seen in him before.

Heartbreaking stuff.

Alcoholic private detective (and ex-cop---aren't they all?)...

[ritera1 · 7/10 · 6 August 2022]

...tasked to follow an older white man and a hispanic boy on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. Then it peels like an onion, like they say. (They do. They do say that.)

Also listless but has some good scenes and acting. Could be staged as a play but apparently never was.

The plot points vs the geography of Los Angeles are very wrong. Like Mexico is a short drive from such (Nope!). They're headed to the airport but in the wrong direction.

The plot is complicated but workable. Needed a long verbal explanation. The ending was muddled. Shannon's character arc relied on apparently love at first sight, which was thin.

The Best Film at Sundance. An original.

[jonahsavant · 9/10 · 23 January 2009]

After seeing "Neal Cassady" at the Woodstock Film Festival last year, I was interested to see what young director Noah Buschel would do with the noir genre. I was not disappointed.

Like his beat "biopic," Buschel turns the genre right on it's head and makes something completely fresh and new. "The Missing Person" has very little to do with it's surface elements, and much more to do with innovative and original film-making.

Michael Shannon delivers his best performance to date. It's him in full movie star wattage. He looks great, he sounds great, and he makes a great damaged hero. The rest of the cast is so superb you almost wish there was more of them in the film.

Perhaps the best use of jazz music I've heard in a film.

There will be those who want a faster paced movie. More violence and quickness and loudness. They should just watch "Brick." That was a good example of a shallow neo-noir. This is not "Brick." This is a deep and unique film about loss. And also, somehow, a hilarious film about loss.

Geoffrey Gilmore, the festival director, introduced "The Missing Person" the night I saw it at Sundance. He said that it was the first film accepted at Sundance this year and that Buschel was doing something no one else was doing right now, which was going back to old forms and making them new again. A lost art, he said. Something that 70's directors used to do a lot.

The key point he made was that "The Missing Person" was an utterly unique film in the guise of a noir film. I couldn't agree more.

Powerful Art Film

[e-swords · 9/10 · 1 August 2009]

There is a user comment here that mentions this film as an attempt at classical noir. Not so. It is an art film with surface elements of the noir genre. Probably it would be better off playing at museum than movie theater. At any rate, if you like David Lynch and Robert Frank and Andy Warhol films-- you will love this movie. Michael Shannon delivers his best performance. Finally he is romantic, leading man. The music is amazing. And Joe Lovano shows up to blow sax. The golden, desaturated look fits perfectly with the depressed character and hungover feeling. The best scene has glow in the dark sunglasses in a dark trunk. I wont say anything else.

A Mood Piece That Uses Old Techniques to Tell a Modern Story

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 8 November 2010]

Writer/Director Noah Buschel is a name we will likely recognize more as audiences who missed the theater release of this very quiet moody piece discover it on DVD. In many way this story and cinematic recreation of the story reminds us of the old dark Bogart mysteries - in tone of telling, in filming gestures, and in the casting. It is a true 'film noir' revealed slowly and insidiously in tones of umber, gray, and washed out colors so prevalent in the early color films and so additive to this production. For this viewer it works on every level.

Private Detective John Rosow (Michael Shannon in a brilliantly understated performance) is a down and out, alcoholic, internalized and bruised man who is hired to shadow a man from Chicago to Los Angeles. Rosow seems to be easily manipulated by his 'boss' Gus (Papitos) and sidekick Charley (Amy Ryan), but when Rosow reaches Los Angeles he discovers that the man he is trailing - Harold Fulmer (Frank Wood) - is delivering a young Mexican boy to one Don Edgar (Yul Vasquez) who seems to be running an orphanage for lost kids to either sell to adopting parents or manipulate otherwise. He is sidetracked by an agent Lana Cobb (Margaret Colin) but with the help of a taxi driver Hero (John Ventimiglia) he finally finds his targeted Harold who insists that he is a lost man, a man who only wants to remain missing to help people like the young Mexican who was an unwanted boy to find some degree of happiness. Rosow reports his findings, and surprisingly is told that Harold wife Megan (Linda Emond) will pay a huge sum of money just to retrieve her missing husband. It seems Harold has been missing since 9/11, but instead of dying in that explosion Harold escaped and decided the world needed help- the only way he felt he could deliver it was to leave behind his wealthy wife and lifestyle and simply do good, anonymous deeds. Rosow meets with Megan, gets the money, but in doing so Rosow must relive the fact that he has lost his wife and world as a result of 9/11, changing his priorities of how to end his assignment: does he turn over Harold and take the small fortune or does he follow his heart? He does the right thing.

Though the story is a strongly told mystery thriller it is first and foremost a story about the loss and disorientation that have paralyzed so many people following 9/11. The beauty of THE MISSING PERSON is the message that in many ways we are all 'missing persons' now. How we elect to deal with that is the part of the story we individually must complete. Michael Shannon enters the ranks of significant film actors with this deeply touching role. This is a little film that deserves a very wide audience.

Grady Harp

Moody But Goody

[samkan · 8/10 · 12 January 2011]

I still unsure what "film" noir means. I'm not entirely convinced people who use the term know either. I do know this THE MISSING PERSON is an excellent film. Key elements are the consistency of its tone (dark!) and its even pace. Nothing very surprising or exciting ever happens yet suspense is pervasive. Our hero is a lout and a lush yet never obnoxious, rude or incoherent. TMP doesn't seem to be about our gumshoe yet he becomes the focus of the movie; i.e., not the slowly unraveling plot which leads to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion. Michael Shannon is a stereotypical Hollywood private dick yet seems to be consciously avoiding the cliché. Try this one out.

Like an awkward wine with an excellent aftertaste

[picknpen · 8/10 · 18 May 2010]

There is only one spoiler for this movie, and it lies in the fundamental reason for its existence. This is not a noir. I can see how the mistake can be made, due to its laconic style, but there are fairly rigid genre rules which The Missing Person simply does not meet. I kept waiting for the noir to develop, and became impatient until I realized it never would. Shannon's performance, along with the feel and the tone of the film kept me involved during the rough spots (and there are a few). This movie is about one thing: theme. To me, the meandering in the early narrative mirrors the disconnected nature of the protagonist: lost and adrift, sleepwalking through the job, mired in his own drunken alienation.

The plot is often clumsy, and the story might have been told better at times, but when you spin through it all, including the almost unbearable chunk of exposition in the NY apartment where Gus and Rosow flesh out the plot machinations, you reach the undeniably powerful realization that this movie is about dealing with life-crushing loss.

The question I entertained through it all was: who is the missing person? Initially, it was Fullmer, then Rosow's wife, but ultimately, it was Rosow himself.

Not a perfect film by any means, but the final impact redeems it from all the tangential trivialities one has to sort through on the way.

Reminded me (in that way) of The Big Kahuna: frustrating at times, but the ultimate payoff makes everything worthwhile.