The Missing

An animator – either the director or his character – has a lot to say, but not always the means to when trauma rears its ugly head.

“I have something to say.”

Eric (Carlo Aquino) is a young animator, who hasn’t spoken in years. This has manifested itself in the loss of his mouth, and he spends the movie writing things down on a whiteboard he wears around his neck. At his work he befriends, and slowly falls for, another animator called Carlo (Gio Gahol) and the two form a bond. However, when Eric is asked to check in on his uncle, and the two find him deceased in his bed, things suddenly turn very dark for Eric, as strange aliens arrive as abduct him, forcing him to relive some of his most distressing memories.

As an exploration of suppressed trauma, of shame and guilt, The Missing is an extraordinary piece of sci-fi drama. It takes common tropes from the genre, along with a touch of body horror, to tell a very down-to-earth and grimly true story of the shock one young man went through while growing up. Writer-director Carl Joseph Papa masterfully uses the concept – one we know pretty early on isn’t exactly real­ – to do what science fiction does best:examine something very real and far less thrilling than aliens would lead you to believe.

It’s the sort of thing that made the best works of Philip K Dick what they are, such as A Scanner Darkly perfectly encapsulating some of Dick’s experiences while he struggled with addiction. That book was also turned into a rotoscoped animated film, which makes me wonder if this film didn’t take a little bit of inspiration from it. On that subject, while rotoscoped films do have a unique visual style The Missing often looks less like a film traced onto animation cels (or, more likely, onto a digital canvas) and more like a live-action film that’s had a few After Effects plugins added to it. that said, It’s still pretty well done (and it’s not like Scanner was much better in that regard either), though it’s telling that an audience member in my screening asked if it was AI. Of course, everything is being accused of being AI these days.

It’s a shame because I personally found it more difficult than I’d have liked to get past the animation style. It might be because of my own experience as a professional animator that gives me a certain eye, who knows. That said, I adored the meta visuals used to delve deeper into Eric’s psyche. The childlike drawings when memories of his youth were evident, but using the “no background” alpha layer to represent things that had been erased from his mind was a very nice touch.

I can see exactly why it needed to be animated. Eric’s continuingly worsening condition is the sort of visual that’s best done in animation; the medium has the best tools for it. The realistic rotoscoping helps keep things grounded too, while the uncanny valley looking models only heightens the semi-reality that Eric is living in. The choices that were made were clearly very deliberate, and for the most part work nicely. Additionally, the film is compelling enough through excellent actors, tense pacing and a mysterious element that slowly reveals itself that it’s still well worth watching.

The Missing is a film that explores dark places, and the ways we as people block out the terrifying memories that haunt us, often hiding for years before suddenly showing up when we finally let out guards down, or when the past is suddenly dug up again. Director Papa’s story is infused with a lot of personal moments, and those touches make the film feel even more real, but all the more gripping.  

Verdict: Don’t let the style distract you and you’ll find in The Missing a lot of narrative depth, engaging character moments and perhaps even the power to defeat the alien overlords.

Overall entertainment: 8/10
Violence: 2/10
Sex: 1/10
Drama: 8/10
Visuals: 5/10
Alien design: So, so cursed
Lady Gaga: So gay

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The Missing (2023)
Also known as: Iti Mapukpukaw
Ilocano, Tagalog

Director: Carl Joseph Papa
Writer: Carl Joseph Papa

CAST

Carlo Aquino – Eric
Gio Gahol – Carlo
Dolly de Leon – Rosalinda