Synopsis
Private detective John Rosow is hired to tail a man on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. Rosow gradually uncovers the man's identity as a missing person; one of the thousands presumed dead after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Persuaded by a large reward, Rosow is charged with bringing the missing person back to his wife in New York City.
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Cast
- Michael ShannonJohn Rosow
- Amy RyanMiss Charley
- Frank WoodHarold Fullmer
- Linda EmondMegan Fullmer
- John VentimigliaHero Furillo
- Margaret ColinLana Cobb
- Paul SparksGus Papitos
- Yul VazquezDon Edgar
- Paul AdelsteinDrexler Hewitt
- Liza WeilAgent Chambers
Recommendations
- 75
New York Post
Rising star Michael Shannon makes a riveting shamus hired to chase a runaway husband in the quiet but resonant little noir The Missing Person. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Overly fussy and self-conscious in its noir details. But in The Missing Person, Buschel makes striking use of the Mike Hammer/Philip Marlowe tradition. - 70
The New York Times
Sluggish, stylized and frequently washed in a bilious green tint, The Missing Person is yet oddly irresistible. - 60
Time Out
It’s Shannon’s slow, steady world of hurt that makes the film watchable. - 60
Los Angeles Times
Despite honoring noir genre conventions, Buschel also draws upon his fertile imagination in dialogue and in storytelling that allows his film gradually to accrue meaning. - 58
The A.V. Club
Shannon’s performance takes The Missing Person as far as it goes, but when a real-world tragedy commandeers the story, Buschel’s thin pastiche falls to pieces. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
A low-key mystery that's initially engaging but ultimately lacks sufficient intrigue to sustain interest. - 50
Variety
An intriguingly plotted mystery that unfortunately forgets to put the noir in film noir. A drab, pale-looking affair without a trace of visual style, this cross-country pursuit yarn fights a losing battle to sustain viewer attention via narrative alone, so much does it flounder for lack of imagistic flair.
