The Missing (2023) on Netflix
Eric is an animator in the Philippines who has no mouth. His mother Rosalinda sends him to check on his uncle Rogelio, and an alien arrives to take him from Earth.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.2/10450 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Eric, a mouthless animator in the Philippines, has a good-paying job and a nice but dirty apartment. On a late-night shift he helps his coworker Carlo revise animations. Afterward his mother Rosalinda calls and asks him to check on his uncle Rogelio at his house, and Carlo offers to drive him there. At the house the two find that Rogelio has been dead for days. Eric panics, and Carlo leaves the house to seek help. While Eric is alone, an alien spaceship takes him aboard. The alien explains it has been looking for him and must complete what it started.
Cast
- Jeremy F. Mendozaas Young Eric(voice)
- Jeydah Cawedas Young Precy(voice)
- Janzeil Siachongcoas Mary
- Willy Malitas Taxi Driver
- Gina Mianas Guard
- Red Musnias Guard(Redener Musni)
- Anna Marie Mendozaas Crowd Talent
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Missing (2023)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- On September 29, 2023, the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Film Academy of the Philippines named The Missing the country's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, making it the first animated film the Philippines had ever submitted in that category.
- Writer-director Carl Joseph Papa based The Missing on his own experience of childhood sexual abuse and on interviews with other people, starting the story in 2019 and taking three years to write it.
- Carlo Aquino, Gio Gahol and Dolly de Leon all signed on to The Missing before reading the script, agreeing after director Carl Joseph Papa explained to them his reason for making the film.
- Papa chose rotoscoping for The Missing to make viewers confused about the character and question whether things are real, while the flashbacks use traditional 2D hand-drawn animation to evoke childhood happiness over a darker story.
- The live-action scenes of The Missing were shot in only four days in a green screen studio, while the rotoscoping that followed took seven to eight months with a team of more than 90 animators.
