Missing is a thriller genre film that comes after the success of Searching (2018). However, this film has a plot that stands alone so it does not continue the previous story.
Here’s a synopsis of Missing.
The film opens with an archival video featuring a young June Allen (Ava Zaria Lee) with her late father. The father died of a brain tumor some time after the video was made. Several years later, June (Storm Reid) is preparing to throw a party at her house. The party was held after her mother, Grace (Nia Long), went to Colombia for a week with her new boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung). Before leaving, Grace tells June that she will be watched over by Heather (Amy Landecker). Heather is Grace’s friend who works as a lawyer and harbors jealousy towards Grace and Kevin’s relationship.
He then decided to investigate the whereabouts of his mother by tracing Grace’s digital footprint, starting from the last location, Facebook messages, to internet searches. June also recruits Javier (Joaquim de Almeida), a casual worker who is willing to do June’s requests for a small fee. But when digging deeper information, the search actually raises more questions for June. He realized he didn’t really know his mother when one by one Grace’s secrets began to be revealed.
Missing is written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson from a story by Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty. Missing was first announced in 2019 with Merrick and Johnson directing. The director duo were previously involved in Searching (2018) as editors. Storm Reid and Nia Long were later announced to be joining the project in 2021. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 19. Missing then premiered simultaneously in the United States the day after its premiere.
Missing has so far received positive reviews from film critics. According to the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator page on Wednesday (22/2), this film won a tomatoometer score of 86 percent from 106 reviews from various international media critics. Missing has so far amassed US$30 million in box office revenue and has surpassed US$7 million in production costs. This film stars a number of Hollywood actors, from Storm Reid, Ken Leung, Nia Long, Joaquim de Almeida, to Tim Griffin.