“Mom, where are you guys?”

June

Directed by the co-editors of 2018’s wonderfully unique Searching, Missing tells a similar story and deploys the same storytelling conceit, unfolding through applications on a screen, but it suffers for the comparison. Inverting its predecessor’s story, June is an 18-year-old searching for her missing mother who disappears while on holiday — June is well equipped to investigate as a tech-savvy youth and, naturally, a true crime afficionado. Missing is less faithful to its screenlife gimmick than Searching, and the issue with this half-measure is that the whole exercise becomes a clunky method of storytelling without the same consistent voyeurism. It does deliver a more involved story with a well-executed midpoint twist, though its later revelations become distractingly convoluted. Storm Reid is believable as June, but a frequently sullen and detached teenager is a far less engaging protagonist in a medium that already distances the audience through layers of interface, clouding any emotional investment. There is enough that works to make Missing worthwhile but the inescapable déjà vu serves as a constant reminder that Searching delivered something all to similar in a more effective package.

6/10