Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Sarentrol Masterful Cinema

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

SnoopyStyle Alcoholic private investigator John Rosow (Michael Shannon) is hired by Miss Charley (Amy Ryan) to follow a man on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. The man is traveling with a kid who turns out to be one of the missing presumed dead during 9/11. Rosow has suppose to him bring back to his wife. There are a couple of supposed FBI agents and a woman who sleeps with him but hiding an agenda.This is a meandering hard-boiled private eye story. Michael Shannon is good as this character. It's not terribly intense. There's only so much that Shannon can do with the material especially if he has to do it as a drunk for the whole movie. The style reminds me of some of the 70s attempt to revive the 50s noir. I like that style but the story needs a lot more tension.

GManfred Can't tell you how hard I tried to like "The Missing Person". Right off the bat, you can see it is an imitation noir, an attempt to recall a bygone era in movies, and they got a down-at-the-heels, alcoholic 'private eye' to be the hero - and being a likable sort, you root for him. The color is not splashy but almost a sepia, two-tone effect that works well with the mood of the picture.However.As noted by several reviewers, it takes forever to get going but then maintains the same slow, plodding pace throughout the film. And the hero, played by Michael Shannon, severely underplays his part and seems to be in a stupor in some scenes, so sluggish does he appear. That may be what the director was looking for, but he is at times in danger of fading into the wallpaper and losing command of what are essentially his scenes. Lastly, too much plot explanation was saved for the final scenes and became almost too much to absorb; It makes you wonder if you got the gist of the story.I hope this was a learning experience for director Buschel and I applaud his effort and concept. I hope he makes more and better pictures. And I hope he is not offended by the fact that a highlight of the movie for me was Thelonious Monk's version of an old standard, "I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance", played over the final credits. It was perfection, a haunting rendition played slowly and using very few fingers.

filmalamosa I feel obliged to write this to warn people--hard to understand the good reviews for this dumb boring movie. Maybe because it is about 911?The story and plot are stupid and full of holes. This movie moves extremely slowly and feeds you no information on what is going on. John Rosow is a NYC cop who lost his wife in 911 (you find this out only about 15 minutes from the end through glacially paced flashbacks)--you know nothing of this (or anything else!) except at the very end. He is hired and paid $500 a day to follow a man named Harold Palmer boarding a train in Chicago.John Rosow is now an alcoholic private investigator working out of Chicago--he was formerly a cop responding to 911. All the 911 connections don't come out until the very end of the movie. His acting consists of squinting and grimacing as much as possible. The movie tries to create a few words 30s detective macho image--with modern sensibilities (PC stuff)--he is sensitive to children etc...Oh yes he gives back the $500,000 he earns from Palmers wife. What kind of a macho detective is that?! The actor gave it his all but he was hobbled by the above-- Harold Palmer turns out to be someone who took advantage of 911 to disappear. People thought he was killed. His rich wife finds out he is alive and wants him back a lawyer wants him to remain missing as a huge insurance settlement has just taken place. Palmer now works taking abandoned children to a Mexico orphanage run by drug dealers. We learn later his own son was kidnapped and killed.The movie is filmed in stark sepia faded colors I guess to reflect the ruined lives of 911...The story is badly written with endless cliché flat lines. It keeps you in the dark...nothing exciting happens..nothing suspenseful...because you don't know what is going on! Oh yes besides the lawyer the FBI are following Palmer due to the drug dealer run orphanage. Wouldn't they squelch the insurance fraud? None of it makes sense. You don't know who is who...who is working for the lawyer? who is calling him on the phone? Worse you don't care after awhile.If a story at it's core makes no sense (the insurance claim) and the FBI the whole things falls apart. In addition this story is dished out in such a slow and confusing way..DO NOT WATCH YOU WILL REGRET IT

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.