Film Review: Missing is a pacey cyber-thriller

Missing: a pacey thriller

• Missing 
• ★★★★☆

In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, the wheelchair-bound hero, Jeffries, doesn’t just observe events playing out across the courtyard — a photographer by trade, he employs binoculars to watch through his apartment’s window. Missing (15A) similarly trades on the idea of mediated viewing, of allowing audiences to see only what the heroine sees, in this case — June (Storm Reid) being a teenager who lives her life online — the various screens of phone, laptop, home security camera, etc. 

When her mother Grace (Nia Long) goes missing in Colombia whilst on a romantic holiday with new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung), the despairing June is initially helpless, especially when she discovers Kevin has a criminal record as a con artist. With the assistance of her friend Veena (Megan Suri) and the Colombia-based ‘GoNinja’ freelancer Javi (Joaquim de Almeida), however, June quickly uses her skills as a digital native, cracking passwords and tracking her mother’s digital presence. 

Missing.

Written by Will Merrick, Nicholas D Johnson and Sev Ohanian, with Merrick and Johnson co-directing, Missing is a lightning-fast investigation conducted via cyberspace. But it’s not all about the quirky framing: once the rules of engagement are established, the writers unfold a twisty whodunit at a rate of at least one red herring per scene, all the while reconfiguring what we’ve seen (or what we believe we’ve seen).

Joaquim de Almeida puts in a strong supporting performance as the Columbian wastrel who comes good, but Storm Reid is the quiet centre of this visual tornado as her character evolves from petulant teen to resourceful heroine.

(cinema release)