Comments on: THE MISSING PERSON Review, Sundance 2009 http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/28/the-missing-person-review-sundance-2009/ Daily coverage of what is truly interesting in the film world Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:07:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: John Craig http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/28/the-missing-person-review-sundance-2009/#comment-120458 John Craig Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:01:17 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=9684#comment-120458 What I thought was really great about this movie was that it wasn't like Todd Haynes. It wasn't an intellectual revisionist staement or any of that mumbo jumbo that Van Sant and Soderbergh and those guys fall into sometimes(Psycho anyone? The Good German, perhaps?) No, what was great about this movie was it's tenderness. I expected something colder and more clever, like Brick. Instead what I found was a movie not too concerned with being hip, fancy, or ironic. A movie mostly concerned with feeling and heart. I agree with Longworth that the mood and travelling images are what stay with you after you've seen the film. And the mood is decidedly real and dark. Yes, there is a lot of cute dialogue and film references, but it seems like what the movie is really about is loss. And not in a distant way either. It's as if they used the noir genre to sneak up on their subject matter, and the audience. It's a movie that really broke my heart, in the best kind of way. A pleasant surprise, in a world full of movies made by directors stuck in their shrewd, cold heads. What I thought was really great about this movie was that it wasn’t like Todd Haynes. It wasn’t an intellectual revisionist staement or any of that mumbo jumbo that Van Sant and Soderbergh and those guys fall into sometimes(Psycho anyone? The Good German, perhaps?) No, what was great about this movie was it’s tenderness. I expected something colder and more clever, like Brick. Instead what I found was a movie not too concerned with being hip, fancy, or ironic. A movie mostly concerned with feeling and heart.

I agree with Longworth that the mood and travelling images are what stay with you after you’ve seen the film. And the mood is decidedly real and dark. Yes, there is a lot of cute dialogue and film references, but it seems like what the movie is really about is loss. And not in a distant way either. It’s as if they used the noir genre to sneak up on their subject matter, and the audience. It’s a movie that really broke my heart, in the best kind of way.

A pleasant surprise, in a world full of movies made by directors stuck in their shrewd, cold heads.

]]> By: b.mcwilliams http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/28/the-missing-person-review-sundance-2009/#comment-120205 b.mcwilliams Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:19:13 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=9684#comment-120205 What? I can't even decipher what this review is saying. I saw the film and I loved it. I thought it was about loss and redemption. I loved how the film used 9/11 to examine the lives of those who lived through it, with the perspective of time having passed. But 9/11 is only a sub-plot. Each main character has a "missing person," and the film examines the actions, emotions and struggles involved in the journey they make in their attempts to make sense of their respective losses. In the end there is redemption for some of those characters and there is only continuing mystery left for others. Just like life can be. What? I can’t even decipher what this review is saying. I saw the film and I loved it. I thought it was about loss and redemption. I loved how the film used 9/11 to examine the lives of those who lived through it, with the perspective of time having passed. But 9/11 is only a sub-plot. Each main character has a “missing person,” and the film examines the actions, emotions and struggles involved in the journey they make in their attempts to make sense of their respective losses. In the end there is redemption for some of those characters and there is only continuing mystery left for others. Just like life can be.

]]> By: T.Holly http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/28/the-missing-person-review-sundance-2009/#comment-120166 T.Holly Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:02:53 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=9684#comment-120166 The 5 eco films: Crude, Dirt!, Earth Days, No Impact Man, The End of the Line. By request, please. Thanks. The 5 eco films: Crude, Dirt!, Earth Days, No Impact Man, The End of the Line. By request, please. Thanks.

]]> By: john levy http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/28/the-missing-person-review-sundance-2009/#comment-120157 john levy Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:59:24 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=9684#comment-120157 great review of a great movie. to me, missing person was best film at sundance. i think if it was in competition michael shannon would have won an acting award. as good as he is in shotgun stories, bug, and revolutionary road... missing peron is best film work he has ever done by far. most well--rounded, and heartbreaking and human. i disagree about the dialogue being too on the nose. some of my friends found the dialogue to be too abstract and were confounded by it actually. in truth, the dialogue changes from scene to scene. sometimes it is noir speak, and sometimes it is very modern and realistic(the scene with john ventimiglia at gas station.) at any rate, great review. great review of a great movie.

to me, missing person was best film at sundance. i think if it was in competition michael shannon would have won an acting award. as good as he is in shotgun stories, bug, and revolutionary road… missing peron is best film work he has ever done by far. most well–rounded, and heartbreaking and human.

i disagree about the dialogue being too on the nose. some of my friends found the dialogue to be too abstract and were confounded by it actually. in truth, the dialogue changes from scene to scene. sometimes it is noir speak, and sometimes it is very modern and realistic(the scene with john ventimiglia at gas station.)

at any rate, great review.

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