‘The Missing’

Ritz Azul (left) and Joseph Marco

(We are running this guide to help moviegoers plan their holiday movie-viewing activity during the pandemic. The 46th Metro Manila Film Festival, or MMFF, Christmas Edition runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7, 2021. Tickets can be ordered online via https://upstream.ph/mmff/)

Directed by Easy Ferrer; starring Joseph Marco, Ritz Azul, and Miles Ocampo; produced by Regal Films

Scene from “The Missing”

The film follows the story of Irish (Azul), an architect who develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after she had lost her younger sister in a kidnapping incident. Thinking that this is her chance to recollect herself and pick up where she has left off, Irish flies to Japan to join her colleague and ex-boyfriend Job (Marco) in a restoration project of a century-old house in Karatsu, Saga. What happens to Irish on the said trip will definitely change her, but not necessarily for the better.

Director Ferrer classified “The Missing” as Japanese horror, and cited the original versions of “The Ring” and “The Grudge” as examples.

While it may be titled “The Missing,” the movie sure has ample new elements to interest fright flick fanatics, according to Ferrer. It was shot in a prefecture called Saga, where “Between Maybes” was also filmed. “This time, we shot during autumn, when all the leaves were bloody red. I have yet to see a local film with a monochromatic palette,” he explained.

The location is the 150-year-old ancestral home called Maeda Residence in the small seaside city of Imari. “The house is like a maze,” Ferrer added. “I already felt goosebumps as soon as we entered the compound. We were warned by the caretaker that we should first perform some purification rites before shoo­ting, and that there were areas in the house that were off-limits especially during nighttime.”

Lead actress Azul said her “peg” for Irish was her mom, Anggie, who has been suffering from anxiety disorder for years now. “Iris was experiencing anxiety attacks, too. She sees a psychiatrist regularly. It didn’t help that her mother is also blaming her for what happened to her sister—add to that the stress she is experiencing at work as an architect,” Azul explained. “In the film, she always looked haggard. She also experiences hallucinations. Through Irish, I was able to sort of experience what my mom is actually going through.” —MARINEL CRUZ