LeonLouisRicci Neo-noir is the grandchild of film-noir which basically was an expressionist creative output that started to fade as an artistic style in the late 50's. Neo-noir style films come in all sorts of forms. This one is an homage in the truest sense. It isn't some sort of underlying influence with a modern panache, it is a bare bones portrayal of a man out of time.His time is when film noir flourished. A time when you could smoke where you wanted, coffee was made in a percolator on a stove, alcohol was carried in a flask, cops patrolled in cars (not some two wheeled foot extension), phones had a cord attached, and a listening device was a stethoscope.But our hero has been engulfed in some kind of post 911 time warp, sucked into a nether world where everything is slightly off center . It's a tale of mistaken preconceptions, jazz, and a big cash payout. A good looking retro feel and an incredible, twisted face, lead performance make this a fine homage and a grandchild worth loving.

moonspinner55 Michael Shannon is one of the finest new character actors working in films today; his performance here as a private investigator from New York, hired to trail a middle-aged man from Chicago to Los Angeles by train, is the centerpiece of "The Missing Person"...and is very nearly the entire show. Writer-director Noah Buschel was probably hoping to modernize the old private eye clichés (including booze, broads, and blaring saxophones on the soundtrack), but his movie doesn't really start cooking for at least a quarter of an hour into the proceedings. Buschel's pacing is deliberately slow, and Shannon's John Rosow is intentionally beleaguered and burnt-out, yet there's no reason to be so poky with this narrative (even Bogie livened up earlier on one of his cases). The film is well-produced and shot, though it runs the risk of losing viewers before it starts to take shape. Once it does, it becomes a rather fascinating throwback, its scenario seesawing between the old and new--like Philip Marlowe in the cell-phone era. **1/2 from ****

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) The Missing Person is, on the surface, about an alcoholic ex-cop who's assigned to find the titular character and bring him home to his wife. But it's much more than that; it's a look at how the survivors of the September 11 attacks continued with their lives, post-tragedy, and it's about man's powers of self redemption. It's a character study in the guise of a film noir mystery.John Rosow, played by Michael Shannon, is contacted by a mysterious client to follow a man from Chicago to LA, find out what he's up to, and then bring him home to New York. But Rosow's investigation unearths more than a simple retrieval mission, and ultimately it reveals a heck of a lot about him and his past, particularly in how he has dealt with losing his wife during the 9/11 attacks.Because, you see - and you will, early on, no spoiler here - the missing person is one of the many who simply were never heard from again after the attacks on the Twin Towers. Many of those people were (and are) presumed dead, but some may have behaved like Harold Fullmer (Frank Wood) and moved elsewhere to get on with their lives anew. Harold's up to something, but luckily for us it's not something nefarious (that would have been too obvious, certainly), and soon Rosow is faced with a moral quandary - should he let Harold stay where he is, or is he obligated to bring him back east? Shannon is superb, a craggy, world-weary Johnny Law who's been leaning on the drink for far too long. We've seen these oversoaked cops before, the ones who are either cold-shocked by tragedy or just numbed to everyday horrors. But below the seen-it-all surface, Rosow has plenty of issues, plenty of bad memories, and plenty of guilt.Thus there are dovetailing plots - the apprehension of Fullmer and the redemption of Rosow. Writer Noah Buschel, who also directed, has crafted a rich, crusty mystery thriller into a psychological study of the long-term effects of a truly horrific day in American history, particularly on individuals; in this case, one man flees his memories, while the other embraces them nightly.I wanted to mention this movie in particular, because it's certainly not one that most people have heard of (it's now on DVD). It's a quiet, subtle look at an event that was itself nothing but. It's well written and insightful into the psyche of a survivor, and it includes a commanding performance by Shannon (nominated for an Oscar for Revolutionary Road, overshadowing both Kate Winslet and the overacting of Leonardo Dicaprio) along with strong support from Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone).

Sharonwebber I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at the Edinburgh Film Festival. While I do not think it will be very popular, for those who like movies that are a little unusual, this one is for you. The pacing, the music, the lighting is all unusual and terrific. The director Noah Buschel spoke after the film and said he was trying to make a noir where everything happened in very ordinary, everyday ways. A "boring noir" is what he called it. In other words, the movie is so low-key that it becomes almost a different genre than noir.But the movie is by no means some kind of abstract experiment. It had me crying hard at the end of the movie. The credit goes to Buschel and Michael Shannon. Shannon breaks through to another level in this movie, adding a sweetness that I hadn't seen in him before.Heartbreaking stuff.