Lost Girls

A very important story but it should have been a documentary not a feature film.

It's 2010. Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) is a struggling single mom in Ellenville, New York. Her youngest Sarra has issues. Her oldest Shannan goes missing. She takes her daughters, Sarra and Sherre (Thomasin McKenzie), to Long Island where Shannan was last seen. Police detective Dean Bostick (Dean Winters) dismisses her due to Shannan being a prostitute. Then a police dog stumbles upon the bodies of four dead prostitutes. Police commissioner Richard Dormer (Gabriel Byrne) takes over the investigation. Mari grows frustrated and decides to take on the entire closed-off community.

I hate to do this to a true story movie but it doesn't have a satisfying ending. As it stands, I need a re-enactment of that night and Shannan's final moments. I need to know who 'they' are. I need a lot of things that is missing in the real life story. I can't blame the movie for not showing things that are unknown in real life. I can blame it for not knowing the best ending of this movie. The best ending must be Mari's murder by her daughter Sarra. This is not Shannan's movie. This is Mari's movie and Amy Ryan's great performance proves it time and again. She electrifies this movie. She is the heart and soul of this movie. This is Mari's movie and it ends when she ends.

Lost Girls: Based on the Long Island serial killings. The story centres around Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) mother of missing Sex Worker Shannan. Mari's relentless campaign forced the police chief (Gabriel Byrne) to conduct a search for her daughter and to seek the serial killer(s) responsible for killing up to 16 women. Best acting plaudits though go to Thomasin McKenzie as Sheree Gilbert. Reed Birney is suitably creepy as a suspect. Terrible incompetence and dereliction of duty by the police is revealed. Directed by Liz Garbus. 7/10. On Netflix.

I stumbled upon 'Lost Girls' tonight on Netflix and thought it looked interesting so decided to give it a look. I wasn't aware of the story behind it and I wasn't aware that it was based on true events. The main thing you'll notice when watching this movie is that is has an agenda, and it pushes it very heavily - and I liked that because it was personal. When a film just picks an agenda and decides to shove it in your face, that's garbage. But that isn't what happened here. This movie has a reason to be anti-police based on the real-life happenings and it wants people to know that. I think it found a good balance between getting its point across and also making sure it didn't consume the movie.

If you asked people to list all the Oscar nominated actresses who appeared in 'The Office' I think a lot would forget to put Amy Ryan on their list. She is though and 'Lost Girls' is further proof that when she is given the material to work with she can act her backside off. Her performance means a lot to this movie because she is the driving force behind almost every scene. If she wasn't able to pull it off the movie would fail, simple as that. She is terrific.

If you don't know anything about the real-life events this is based on then this film works very well as a mystery-drama. If you do know about them then I would suggest you're still going to enjoy this film, just in a different way. Don't come in expecting action scenes and over-the-top drama thrown in for the sake of it. This is a low-key, understated film that just goes about its business and does so wonderfully well. I had a great time with this movie and I suggest you will too.

Since I watch a lot of murder mysteries this popped up on Netflix. Once it started I realized is was about the murders on Long Island. I knew a little, but nothing about the families involved.

The film does an excellent job of drawing you into the life of the mother who wouldn't settle for police indifference. There were details and an ending I never knew that adds to the heart break.