You don't have to be a veteran of a war to be broken in spirit and Linda Hamilton's Kate, the owner of a general store that Jake buys his dry goods from, carries her own angst from a haunted past as much as any of the men, (and one woman) in the woods. Even as Lenny's presence creates a balm for the spirits of these damaged people, Red is a constant reminder of the fact some wild animals can't be tamed or even socialized.
A film like Missing In America is in constant danger of slipping over into the realm of cheap sentimentality and cliché. How many movies have there been made of the curmudgeon brought to life by the young spirited child? Three things have to work in perfect harmony for this type of movie to have any chance of success.
The Director has to be ruthless in the extermination of extraneous cuteness, the script has to stay true to the characters and their potential (not have them turn into something that wasn't there in the first place), and the acting has to be without any artifice, everything played straight and true. It is to their credit the people involved with Missing In America not only carry that off, they also breath life into the cliché so it takes on a reality its probably never had before.
You wouldn't know by watching this movie it was the first time directing a feature for Director Gabrielle Savage Dockterman. Her previous experience with documentaries may have taught her the ins and outs of being on set and how to frame a shot to its best advantage. But there's no way any of that could have helped her learn how to build a sequence of shots to best reflect the emotional impact of a moment on screen.
Not only that but she was also working with a novice child actor as one of her leads. Too many experienced Hollywood Directors have ruined movies and child actors by turning their performances into caricatures instead of characters. Their movies should come with warnings along the lines of cloying cuteness being carcinogenic. They could take lessons from Ms. Dockterman in how to work with child actors: cute sayings and spunky attitudes are not acting.
Article comments
1 - Ralph
Missing in America missed some logical facts. The movie made reference to the fact that our war buddies were serving around 1970. Shouldn't that make the girl in her mid to late 30's? Other than that, it was a good movie.
2 - Gary
Did you even watch the movie? Henry went back to Vietnam and that is when he meet his wife and they had Lenny.