Les disparues

Very reminiscent of 'The Searchers', probably the best of the John Wayne-John Ford teamups, 'Missing' plays better as a thriller set in the West, than as a 'mystical Western' (which is what I think it was really going for). Predictably excellent performances from Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, and a fantastic performance from Eric Schweig as the Apache witch doctor. I was surprised to discover the film was mostly dumped on by critics in the US, and bombed there. It's had a much better response here, as I think it should have. Look out also for Evan Rachel Wood, so good in 'Thirteen', as the older of Blanchett's two daughters. This ranks as Ron Howard's best.

`The Missing' is as close to a feminist movie as can be telling a story that engrosses on the traditional level of the Western without offending warring cultural factions. Cate Blanchette plays a frontier single mom and local healer, whose teenage daughter is abducted by Apaches and army deserters to sell for prostitution in Mexico.

She must find her daughter and also deal with her estranged father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who deserted his family 20 years ago to live with the Apaches and now tracks them with Blanchette to find his granddaughter.

Blanchette is not John Wayne, who played one of the `Searchers' in John Ford's memorable Western, certainly a source for this story. She lacks Wayne's easy bigotry about Indians, yet she carries toughness in adversity every bit as strong as Wayne at his most macho.

Nor is she Audrey Hepburn in John Huston's `The Unforgiven,' who is mostly protected from abduction-minded Kiawas by Burt Lancaster. No, Blanchette carves out a memorable stand-alone heroine in another sterling performance, certainly one of the top 2 actresses in film today.

Cinematographer Salvatore Totino uses aerial shots to capture the vast but imprisoning New Mexico landscape; James Horner's swelling music now and then feels as if it can't wait for another `Titanic'; Ron Howard's direction is unobtrusive, in the same way he allowed Russell Crowe to save Howard's middling `Beautiful Mind' screenplay. Actually Howard prepared himself by directing the Mel Gibson `Ransom,' also about abduction and pursuit.

The realism starts in the first scene with Blanchette extracting a tooth from an almost toothless hag and proceeds with multiple bloody encounters, too many for me in a long movie that could have edited out several encounters. But seeing Blanchette and Jenna Boyd as her younger daughter act with apparent full chops is to be happy that we no longer have to rely on Wayne for rugged individualism. As Gloria Steinem reminds us, `When both sexes realize that either one can be on top, we're all going to enjoy our relationships a lot more.'

Maggie Gilkeson is a single mother working as a doctor in New Mexico. She is hardy and seemingly strong. When an old man with Indian looks shows up seeking treatment, she finds that he is her father, whom she has blamed for her mother's death when he abandoned them as a child. She rejects his attempts to apologise and sends him on his way. When an Indian raiding party kidnaps Maggie's eldest, Lily, she has to turn to Samuel for his ability to track them.

With so few westerns being released to our multiplexes it is important not to go crazy with hype when one is released. In the UK we will have this film and Open Range released within a few weeks of one another and nearly every review you read can't help but draw attention to that as if somehow the recent Westerns we've had are some sort of golden age. I watched this just as I watch any film of any genre, whether the western happens to be neglected recently or not. The plot here is basically the journey and Jones' attempts at a sort of redemption. The film is perhaps a touch long, but it still fills the running time well. The action stuff is good but it is also well complimented by the more emotional core. It isn't perfect of course, but it does well and makes for an engaging and entertaining film. Of the things I'd like to have seen gone, the whole black magic side of the film didn't work for me and gave the story a mysticism that I didn't think it actually needed.

The cast are very good though. Jones manages to actually play an unexplained white man who was `with the Indians' without it being unbearably laughable. He is a more interesting character than the writing would have done alone or with a lesser actor. Blanchett makes up for her dire work in LOTR with a gutsy performance that gradually transforms as the film goes. Schweig is a great baddie despite his low screentime. It is good that the PC brigade didn't mean that this character had to be twisted in keeping with the modern cliché that all Indians are moral and upright. Boyd is much better here than in that terrible Dickie Roberts thing. She does have to do a little too much screaming at times but generally is up to the task. Support from Kilmer, Clint Howard and others are welcome in support and there is not really a weak link in the cast.

Overall this is not a great western, and wouldn't really stand out in the genre. However it is one of the better films out in the cinema right now. It has a good central story with reasonably good characters and it is only the mystical stuff and some weaknesses in the script that stops it being better.

It's 1885 New Mexico, Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) has return to reconcile with his estranged daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett). He had abandoned her 20 years ago, and she rejects him right away. When her oldest daughter Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by Indian outlaws, Maggie must seek his father's help.

This is a departure from the usual Ron Howard fare. It's moody atmosphere can be attributed mostly to Tommy Lee Jones' performance. It's a fascinating side note to Howard's career and great to see him imitate 'The Searchers'. There is a lot of ugliness being shown but the ending is too traditional for this stark dark tale. I think Howard couldn't really go to the lower depths in the end. It's a great effort for an accomplished director to go outside his comfort zone.

The premise of this film that the main character (played by Cate Blanchett) is a rancher and doctor living in the wilds of New Mexico. Her daughter is kidnapped by a group of outlaws led by a psychopathic witch doctor. At the same time, her estanged father (played by Tommy Lee Jones) enters her life, and she is faced with her deep hatred of him, weighed against her need for his help. The rest of the story I won't give away.

I've read whisperings of Oscar nominations, which may be a fair statement, but although these rumors have been directed towards Blanchett, I would say that Jones had the stronger performance. Blanchett was excellent as well though, depicting a hard-laboring no-nonsense rancher perfectly, not trying to inject any glamour into her role whatsoever, as might have been the case if certain other big name actresses had played the role. I am forever amazed by Blanchett's versatility! The girls playing the daughters were excellent

too, specially the youngest one, who had a number of intense emotional scenes.

I liked the bleak feeling presented in the film...the raw climate, the hopelessness combined with determination that the characters portrayed. The heroic rescue attempts were not without their screw-ups, making the story much more realistic than a typical Western shoot-em-up hero movie.

I also enjoyed the element of mysticism, which was pulled off without being too corny. The main villain in this film was quite possibly the creepiest, ugliest villain to grace the screen in years! Yet somehow it wasn't too trite either.

My personal beef with most Hollywood epics is that friggin' annoying sweeping soundtrack music, which practically spells out to you how you are supposed to feel, replacing the emotion that should have been created by the acting and directing. Thankfully, the soundtrack didn't overwhem this film. Just some well placed ambient music which supplemented the scenes nicely.

Definitely one of the better films I've seen lately. I rate it 8/10.