Category Archives: Missing Person

2017, Abduction, Abortion, Abuse of Women, Adultery, Amnesia, Cult Brainwashing, Detective, Dysfunctional Lives, Family Conflict, Forensics, Horses, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, MHz Choice, Missing Person, Mother-daughter relations, Murder Investigation, Personality or religious cult, Police Culture, Religious Theme, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Suicide, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Transvestite theme

Missing (2017)

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From IMDB:

Police superintendent Maja Silver goes back to her old hometown in the Swedish Bible belt to see her daughter, when a terrible discovery paralyzes the small community.

Helena Bergström stars as Maja Silver in this Swedish TV series streamed from MHz Choice.  Only season 1 is available and consists of 4 episodes, each about 45 minutes. Swedish with English subtitles.

Religious fanaticism is the center of this series. Someone is driving young women to commit suicide. Police inspector Maja, on a visit from Stockholm to see her estranged daughter, reluctantly agrees to head the case in the small town after the police chief dies suddenly of a heart attack.

All the usual police detective soap opera pieces are in place: a jealous colleague, a former lover, an estranged daughter, a resentful police force, a transvestite father, a sexual predator, and a few religious perverts and nutcases.  None of these elements detract from a compelling four-part series.  Until the last portion reveals the answer to the puzzle I suspected the wrong person.

Try your luck at guessing who is abducting the women.

2016, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Alzheimer's disease, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, British, Brother-Brother relations, Car Chase, Child abduction and murder, Clever Plot, Complicated, Computer geeks, Corny at times, Drag Queen, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Father-son relations, Forensics, Harlan Coben, Illegitimate Child, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Police Culture, Prison, Prostitutes, Psychopath, School Teacher, Serial Killer, Sexual Tension, Teenagers, TV Series, Violent

The Five (2016)

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From Netflix:

Twenty years after 5-year-old Jesse disappears near his home, his DNA turns up at the scene of a woman’s murder, baffling his family and the police.

From Netflix we streamed the 10 episodes of season 1 (the only season offered). Each episode is about 44 minutes.

After 10 somewhat involved episodes the story does come to a conclusion with no cliff-hangers leading into another season.  Sometimes the acting is not great, but the story is well-constructed and kept me interested up to the end.  In fact, the story is written by the well-known mystery writer Harlan Coben.

“The Five” are four friends who were adolescents when Jesse was just a little boy. One day in the woods, the four older kids tell Jesse to go home because they want to do big-kids stuff. On the way home Jesse disappears. Decades later the four still have guilt feelings and Jesse’s parents never stopped suffering.

Those of us who watch British entertainment might be interested to know that Jesse’s parents are played by Michael Maloney (whose huge resumé includes playing Dr. Crowley in the TV series “Paranoid”) and Geraldine James (whose equally huge resumé includes playing Milner in the TV series “Utopia”).

One of the four friends, the police detective Danny Kenwood, plays Luke Bankole in the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Another of the four friends,  Slade, may be familiar to you as the character John Bacchus in the TV series “Inspector George Gently”.

Some ugliness, not a masterpiece, but I never guessed the ending and so stayed interested.

2016, Acceptable for children, Adopted child, Australian, Based on true facts, Biographical, Brother-Brother relations, Could Be Sad, Culture of India, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Feel Good For All, Love Story, Mental Illness, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Netflix DVD, True Story, Wonderful acting

Lion (2016)

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From IMDB:

A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Netflix sent me a DVD containing this film.

Goose flesh films are rare for me, but this true story really worked for me.  Imagine having your 5-year-old child getting lost and then disappearing.  Imagine being that poor child Saroo who grows up in his adopting and loving Australian family while always wondering where his real mother and brother Guddu are.  This nagging compulsion finally drives Saroo away from his Australian family as well as from his wife Lucy while he plods on day and night using Google World to find his birthplace. Of course we know the story has a happy ending, but getting there is a tense trip.

Expect the film to be somewhat slow moving. Much film time is spent inside Saroo’s head as he more and more remembers bits and pieces of his past childhood. Present stimuli bring back past memories.

Some important characters are:

  • Nicole Kidman is superb as Sue Brierly, Saroo’s adoptive mother. Nicole Kidman just keeps maturing into a better and better actor.
  • Dev Patel makes the perfect Saroo. Does it seem possible that just 8 years ago, Dev Patel played the older Jamal in “Slumdog Millionaire”?
  • Rooney Mara is an appealing and sympathetic Lucy. How different she is here as compared to her role as Lisbeth Salander in the 2011 production of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

Patience is a virtue in watching this film. Be sure to stay tuned at the end to read subsequent history and to see photos of the real Saroo and all the other people in his life.

DO NOT MISS!

2013, Abduction, Amazon Prime, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Child abuse, Computer geeks, Crime thriller, Detective, Disturbing Image, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional child abuse, Forensics, French, French Detective Series, Grim, Mental Illness, Missing Person, Murder Investigation, Psychiatrists, Psychological Thriller, Revenge, Serial Killer, Suicide, Suspense, Violent

Lanester (2013)

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From Amazon Prime:

In the west of Paris, three strange murders are committed. Each time, the victim is eviscerated before being arranged in a macabre display. While discovering one of these, police commander Eric Lanester loses his sight. With the help of Gabrielle, a young woman taxi driver, the cop nevertheless continues his investigation, which soon awakens demons he considered buried forever.

Originally, as far as I can tell, “Lanester” was just a French film that told only one story. But now from Amazon Prime you can download three episodes of Season 1. Each episode (with English subtitles) last about 1 hour 30 minutes. Moreover each episode is dated December 31, 2013. Running through all three episodes is a strongly unifying theme involving Police Commander Lanester and his mentally ill brother. All of which seems to suggest that the original film was re-packaged into three episodes.

In any case, the story is compelling enough to recommend. Just beware that there are depicted grisly murders.

2015, Acceptable for teenagers, Acorn TV, Basically Sad, Complicated, Detective, Drama, Drugs, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Forensics, French, French Culture, French Detective Series, Missing Person, Mother-daughter relations, Nudity, Plot Twist, Police Culture, Prison, Sex Scenes, Teenagers, Tragedy, Various Romances, Violent, Well developed plot

The Disappearance (2015)

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From Acorn TV:

When a teenage girl does not return home from a festival, her parents contact the police.

Acorn TV (still $4.99 per month) offers this one-season 8-episode French TV series with English subtitles.

More than just a “who-done-it”, the plot is interested not only in finding the killer or killers, but in how the deaths affect the families and people involved.

Because the cast of characters is large and possibly confusing, you may wish to use the cheat sheet offered in Wikepedia. Unfortunately the Wikipedia article does not explain the plot, so you will have to pay attention (and maybe take notes). Do not let this challenge deter you from watching this excellent and involving series.

Just a brief glimpse at the very beginning of plot is as follows:

Seventeen year old Lea Morel disappears.  She has a father Julien,  mother Florence, brother Thomas, little sister Zoe. Julien and his brother Jean are close to one another. Together they run a restaurant where their children also work. Jean’s wife is dead and he has a somewhat secret mistress. Jean has a teenage daughter Chris (hence Lea’s first cousin), Florence has a company and works with Lea’s god-mother Sophie. Commandant Betrand Molina runs the police investigation. There are other important characters.

As the plot develops you will see Julien obsessing over solving the murder and constantly interfering with Molina’s investigation. Both Julien and Florence are frozen in grief but must protect and continue to parent little Zoe. Little by little the grief and anguish begins to divide Julien and Florence.

You will need to watch all eight episodes carefully because the surprises keep coming. Yes, it is a soap opera, but a really good soap opera.

DO NOT MISS!

1987, Abduction, Acorn TV, Adultery, British Mystery Series, Brother-Brother relations, Conspiracy, Detective, Divorce, Extramarital Affair, Father-son relations, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Pedophilia, Photography, Plot Twist, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Uncategorized, Violent

Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987)

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From IMDB:

From cold, rock-strewn moors to comfortable suburban estates, award-winning writer Ruth Rendell explores the dark fissures between friends and family members that motivate murder.

Acorn TV offers this series which includes:

Master of the Moor, Parts 1,2,3
Colin Firth as outdoors loving loner.

Vanity Dies Hard, Parts 1,2,3
Newly wed woman searches for her vanished friend.

Simisola, Parts 1,2,3
Daughter of Nigerian surgeon is missing.

The Secret House of Death, Parts 1,2
How exactly did the next door neighbor die?

A Case of Coincidence, Parts 1,2
Surgeon’s wife murdered in the fens.

Road Rage, Parts 1,2,3,4
Young German tourist goes missing.

The Lake of Darkness
Generous lottery winner.

Harm Done
Pedophile,abduction,missing daughter