The Missing Person

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.

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.

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.

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 ****

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.