O Desaparecimento

A contracted hit-man (Donald Sutherland) working for a strange organization (his contact is David Warner) discovers a rare link between his new target and his missing spouse (Francine Racette, Sutherland's wife on real life ) while they're living in their Montreal apartment.

This slow-moving film results to be a boring and confusing story that deals about assassin's preoccupation with the disappearance his wife . The picture is full with continuous flashbacks , suspense , twists and turns. Nice performance by Donald Sutherland as a cold and tough assassin . Good supporting actors formed by all-star-cast as David Warner, John Hurt , Virginia McKenna, Christopher Plummer, and David Hemmings, also producer . This unknown movie was a flop because of flaws , gaps and disjointed scenes . Colorful cinematography by John Alcott , Stanley Kubrick's usual , an splendid cameraman who photographed ¨2001¨, ¨Clockwork Orange¨ and ¨Barry Lyndon¨. Sad and melancholic soundtrack by piano music is composed by Robert Farnon. The motion picture was professionally directed by Stuart Cooper with pretentiously arty film-making . He initially directed cinema movies as¨¨ Little Malcom¨ and ¨Overlord¨ but went on making TV movies as ¨The hunted¨, ¨Fortunate pilgrim¨ , ¨A.D.¨, ¨Long Hot summer¨ and several others. Rating : Acceptable but tiring movie .

I had never heard of the "The Disapperance", but then again there are very few movies from the late 70s that come to my mind at all. But I do like Donald Sutherland and I try to see much of his contributions to film.

This movie almost made me give up. I found the beginning confusing, the setting boring, and the flashbacks frustrating. However for Donald's sake I struggled through. The feelings I experienced may well have been the intended design.

As the story progresses, it does become more interesting. The plot has some nice changes and I found myself more encouraged to concentrate on the developments, and eventually was actually enjoying the movie.

I don't know if I would watch this a second time, but I am glad I survived it the first time. The ending didn't surprise me, but if you are a fan of Donald's as well, you should try "The Disappearance" and see how you feel at the end of it.

It is also a typical seventies thriller, very downbeat, slow, strange, where Donald Sutherland shines, as usual. And, as strange as it seems to be, in this offbeat thriller, I thought of KLUTE character, though not the same story and atmosphere either. But.... The mainly flaw is the pace, and romantic element, which is somewhat annoying in such a plot. But some supporting characters such as David Hemmings, Christopher Plummer, John Hurt, David Warner, enhance this interesting overall movie. Yes, I recommend this Canadian thriller, very in the mood of the seventies. But it will remain underrated. Excellent ending.

The Disappearance, to me, is a Hitchcock wannabe that simply isn't. It's a slowly paced, talky thriller that just doesn't cut it. Donald Sutherland and the cast are great, but there are so many British actors in the cast that the term "Canadian-Made" sounds like a cheat. If this is a Canadian movie, wouldn't it have been better if they had put all Canadian actors in the cast? Also, if the movie takes place in Montreal (a mostly French-speaking city), wouldn't it have made more sense to have Sutherland's character do his foreign assignment in somewhere like Paris, France, instead of in England? After all, this is not a British movie, it's Canadian.

It surprised me that Sutherland and Francine Racette were married and had 3 children.

I recommend this only for fans of deep psychological thrillers. As for me, I think I will be putting a "Previously Viewed" label on this one and dropping it in the drop-off slot at my local video store.

Rating: **

The good: excellent cast of actors. I mean these actors were the creme de la creme during the seventies and eighties and even beyond. And we get to see some excellent acting performances. This is an ACTOR'S movie!

The photography is of high quality as well, with many still shots without any words, that reveal the hand of a master at work.

Any bad? Unfortunately this movie is bogged down by ENDLESS flashbacks, that got on my nerves after half an hour. I get it, this story is like a puzzle and what better way of slowly revealing the plot than by using flashbacks. BUT there is a limit on how many flashbacks I can see, before I get annoyed by them.

Still worth a watch for the Donald Sutherland fans, because he gives one of his best performances.