Release Date: TBD
Director: Shane Ryan
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: 5.5/10
Director Shane Ryan’s My Name is A by Anonymous, was a film that crawled under my skin and rattled me to my core with its disturbing imagery and even more disturbing subject matter, so when I received a copy of The Girl Who Wasn’t Missing, I was naturally prepared to have my week ruined. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, however, while not nearly as depraved, The Girl Who Wasn’t Missing is still a dark tale filled with gritty visuals on top of a depressing story. It should be noted that this is a reimagining of one of his previous films, 2009’s Warning!!! Pedophile Released, however this review will look at it as a stand alone film.
The film follows a 15 year-old girl named Echo, who becomes pregnant after being sexually assaulted by two men, and is kicked out of her home for disgracing her family. Like Ryan’s other works, the story is broken up into segments that propel the timeline in Echo’s story. After being kicked out onto the streets, the loose narrative meanders through her life of finding shelter where she can, and trying to live day by day.
The film focuses on the humdrum existence of someone who lives on the streets, with the majority of the film simply following Echo as she wonders about town with no discernible objectives or goals. While the events in her life are tragic, watching her aimlessly wonder about tends to get boring despite the near constant shifts in visual style.
As much as it is a sad film, it’s also one that proves to be frustrating. Like many real life scenarios similar to this, Echo doesn’t tell her father about the events that led to the pregnancy. If she only said something in that one moment the downward spiral that she ends up in could have been avoided. Unfortunately, situations like this happen all too often, and it’s easy for the viewer to yell at the person on the screen to ask for help, as it’s difficult to understand what she’s going through. This aspect turns the film into a cautionary tale with a sound message, despite lacking much of a coherent plot.
When it comes to the visuals, Ryan once again employs the kitchen sink approach by throwing in every kind of filter one can think of into the film. Like My Name is A, some of these techniques work beautifully, juxtaposing high definition clarity with urban decay. These scenes are expertly framed and show a professionalism that’s only hinted at in My Name is A. Unfortunately, for every one of these scenes there’s another that employs a cheap looking negative effect, or one that adds a green glow to everything that looks very bad.
The soundtrack is also inconsistent, with some tracks fitting the story nicely, with others sounding like something out of porno from the 80s. This is less problematic than in My Name is A however, as it feels more subdued and less obtrusive.
While The Girl Who Wasn’t Missing is still firmly planted in Ryan’s wheelhouse of attempting to make the feel bad movie of the year, there’s a level of artistic proficiency here that easily elevates him above the typical shock/exploitation directors.
