Review of A Girl Missing / よこがお, directed by Koji Fukada

I’m going to be frank—I had never heard of this movie before doom scrolling on MUBI one random Thursday night. Japanese cinema tends to be one of those kinds of national cinemas that I have tendency to stumble upon when I’m least expecting it, and when I really need something to watch, there’s a weird tendency of mine to land on something that’s Japanese.

When I start doom scrolling on a streaming platform when looking for something to watch, I end up closing my eyes and keeping my hand moving so the cursor and page keeps going. Then I lift it and open my eyes, and somehow it’s always something Japanese.

That said, I love Japanese movies, but some of the ones that are listed on MUBI are way outside of my knowledge and comfort zone—especially the ones from the sixties and seventies that are weirdly borderline sexual.

Besides that, this is how I ended up watching A Girl Missing one night. It was an interesting movie, that’s for sure, but I don’t know if I would rewatch it if we’re going to be honest.

Onwards with the review!

While serving as a nurse for a family, the daughter goes missing, and Ichiko realizes it’s her nephew who kidnapped the girl.

The main protagonist of A Girl Missing is Ichiko, a middle-aged woman serving as a nurse for a family.

They have an older grandmother in their home, hence the need for a nurse and primary care inside of the home, and she becomes quite close with the family because of it. There’s one member of the family in particular that she tends to hang out with, Motoko, and they become quite close at the beginning of the movie—or at least they appear they do.

Everything quickly begins to change for Ichiko when the girl in that household is kidnapped one day, which is shocking considering Ichiko used to help the girls out with their homework while balancing her day to day tasks at work.

But when the girl is found, Ichiko being treated like a family member is no more. The person who kidnapped the girl is her nephew, and when this is found out, it’s the beginning of the end for her not only professionally, but socially as well.

When the girl, Saki, disappeared, it ended up creating a media frenzy in Japan, and Ichiko is seen watching the events on the news during some days. It’s only a matter of time when people are going to realize that she’s related to the person who ended up kidnapping her employer’s daughter, and so Ichiko begins to isolate herself while continuing to do her job.

But over the course of her isolation, she continues talking to the other daughter, Motoko. Motoko shows sympathy for Ichiko’s situation and helps her out emotionally with coping over what has happened to her, but then things take a turn for the worst.

When she’s at her nursing company one day, surrounded by her coworkers, they turn on the television and discover that Motoko has revealed a secret about Ichiko involving her nephew.

One day Ichiko confided with Mokoto that she once pulled down her nephew’s parents and looked at his genitals, which is what Motoko then reveals on national television.

Ichiko’s coworkers ask her if it is true, and she is unable to deny it. She resigns on the spot and tells the crowd of reporters outside that she no longer works there and has to weed through the masses of people to get home and face the circumstances of what has happened to her.

Her fiance also ends up leaving Ichiko because of that, instating a taste for revenge because of how badly Motoko ended up betraying her.

She sees herself as wrong in the situation has happened, and Motoko basically ruined her life because of something that was shared in private.

Overall Thoughts

I think the premise of this movie is a good one, but I ended up thinking that it falls to be in the lackluster territory after halfway through the first arc of the story.

Ichiko is a victim of circumstance throughout the film, and the actress does a good job of playing her as a character, but by the end we have a morally grey character who really becomes transformed by her circumstances.

But there simply isn’t enough for this film to keep going and capture the audience’s attention, which left me wanting more. At the end of the day film is subjective and the opinions we end up with vastly differ.

Doesn’t mean it’s a bad film at the end of the day!

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