Photo courtesy of Film Movement. © 2019 YOKOGAO FILM PARTNERS & COMME DES CINEMASSource: Film Movement, Foundry Communications press release Official Site: yokogao-movie.jp (Japan), filmmovement.com/a-girl-missing (US) Special Thanks to Michael Krause
Photo courtesy of Film Movement. © 2019 YOKOGAO FILM PARTNERS & COMME DES CINEMASOne of the finest Japanese directors to emerge in the last decade, Kôji Fukada has earned renown for crafting suspenseful dramas. Following 2016's HARMONIUM (淵に立つ, Fuchi ni Tatsu), which captured Cannes' prestigious Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, he returns with A GIRL MISSING (よこがお, Yokogao, 2019), a tense portrait of a woman caught up in a spiral of defamation. In this slow-burning thriller, also scripted by Fukada, Ichiko (HARMONIUM's Mariko Tsutsui) works as a home-care nurse to the elderly matriarch of the Oisho family -- long enough to feel like part of the family. She's closest to the eldest sister, Motoko (Mikako Ichikawa), who's studying to follow in Ichiko's footsteps. However, their happy routine is disrupted when Motoko's sister, Saki (Miyu Ogawa), is abducted. The girl is eventually returned, but it's discovered that her kidnapper was Ichiko's nephew -- a fact that Motoko insists they keep between them. It's this shared secret that forges an even closer bond between the two, yielding further confessions -- some of which may be turned into weapons. Nominated for a "Best Film" Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and a "Best Feature" Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, A GIRL MISSING was an Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Visit filmmovement.com/a-girl-missing for virtual screening details. A GIRL MISSING Credits Written and Directed by: Kôji Fukada Cast: Mariko Tsutsui, Mikako Ichikawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Hisako Ookata, Mitsuru Fukikoshi , Miyu Ogawa Produced by: Naohiko Ninomiya, Daisuke Futagi, Hirohisa Mukuju, Masa Sawada Executive Produced by: Shinichiro Inoue Director of Photography: Kenichi Negishi Production: Kadokawa, Comme des Cinémas, Tokyo Garage Genre: Drama RT: 111 minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Sound:5.1. Surround Sound Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Photo courtesy of Film Movement. © 2019 YOKOGAO FILM PARTNERS & COMME DES CINEMASAbout Film Movement Founded in 2002 as one of the first-ever subscription film services with its DVD-of-the-Month club, Film Movement is now a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City. It has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide. Film Movement's theatrical releases include American independent films, documentaries, and foreign art house titles. Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, Sergio Corbucci and Ettore Scola. For more information, please visit filmmovement.com.
For more information on A GIRL MISSING please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: