''Missing'' () is a 2008 Hong Kong dramatic fantasy horror film directed by

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, , born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong (), is a Hong Kong filmmaker. A major director in the Golden Age of Cinema of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cinema, Tsui gained critical and commercial success with films such as ''Zu Warriors from ...

starring

Angelica Lee Lee Sinje (; born 23 January 1976) is a Malaysian film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lee starred in '' The Eye'', the hit Asian horror film by the P ...

Plot

Psychiatrist Dr. Gao Jing is

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

with a group of environmentalists attempting to bury carbon dioxide in the seabed when she is photographed by Guo Dong, the brother of her patient Xiao Kai. The photographs are shown in an exhibition and the two begin dating. Guo Dong takes Gao Jing to the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

to show her the ancient underwater city of Yonaguni where he has hidden a ring that he will use to propose to his true love, but is beheaded in a mysterious accident. Xiao Kai does not believe that the body at the funeral is her brother's because there is no head and the fingerprints have worn off. She believes that her brother may still be alive and begins searching for him. She searches a shipwreck site with Guo Dong's friend Haiya Amu and finds a white-haired severed head that she believes to be her brother's. Dr. Gao has lost her memory of the events and does not know what happened to her boyfriend. Dr. Gao convinces her boss Dr. Tang to give her hypnotism therapy and drugs to recover her memory. The drugs cause her to develop a sensitivity to bright lights and loud noises. She notices the same sensitivity in her patient Simon, who says he has seen the dripping wet ghost of Guo Dong. Dr. Gao asks Simon to help her contact Guo Dong but warns her that she is being pursued by the white-haired ghost. Dr. Gao returns home to finds Xiao Kai speaking with a different accent and suspects that she is channeling the ghost of Su Zhenjing, a 24-year-old girl from Hualien. Xiao Kai asks Dr. Gao to open the canister containing the recovered head but Simon calls and warns her not to do it. Later he is severely injured when he is run over by Xiao Kai and ends up in the hospital. Dr. Gao sends Haiya Amu to check whose head is in the canister but when she returns home she finds him dead with a knife in his back. Dr. Gao throws the severed head off her balcony and is attacked by Xiao Kai, who is stopped by the police. Dr. Gao takes more of the drugs to communicate with the ghost of Guo Dong, who saves her when she almost falls down the stairs. Guo Dong's ghost explains that his oxygen tank was smashed by currents and Dr. Gao invites him to stay with her. Dr. Gao returns Haiya Amu's head to her father and has a final conversation with Guo Dong. Dr. Gao wakes up in a hospital, where she has been ever since her boyfriend's disappearance. She has no memory of the disappearance. Xiao Kai recounts how Guo Dong disappeared after saving Dr. Gao from

nitrogen narcosis Nitrogen narcosis (also known as narcosis while diving, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while diving at depth. It is caused by the anesthetic effect of certain gas ...

. A camcorder video reveals that Dr. Gao stabbed Guo Dong during her narcosis. Xiao Kai brings Dr. Gao home and cares for her. Dr. Gao dreams that Guo Done asks her to travel to Feng Lai to find him. Dr. Gao finds the tape but the stabbing has been erased. Dr. Gao travels to Feng Lai and finds Guo Dong's cabin and lost photographs. On the beach she finds the ring he meant to give her, then she walks into the ocean. In the final scene the ghosts of Gao Jin and Guo Dong are shown swimming together around the underwater city of Yonaguni.

Cast

Production

Underwater photography was used in order to film underwater scenes off

Yonaguni Island , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okinawa, Yonaguni, Ya ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Release and promotion

The film was released in Hong Kong on 12 June 2008 and featured at the 2008

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. From 2022, the festival was officially recognized as a competitive festival by the Internation ...

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews. Derek Elley of ''

Variety.com ''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in ...

'' called it "Tsui's career nadir" and ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called it "quite a messy piece of work" and a "hodge-podge of genres", concluding that "the whole thing looks quickly shot and put together, from the unexceptional underwater scenes to an oft-repeated theme song about undying love." A review on the website

Screen Anarchy ScreenAnarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

states that "the idea is intriguing" but that the film has "too many ingredients." Ho Yi of the ''

Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is an English-language print newspaper in Taiwan published by the Liberty Times Group. Founded as the third English-language newspaper on 15 June 1999, it is currently the last surviving English-language print newspaper i ...

'' wrote that "though the effort involved is commendable, the results are not".

References

External links

*
''Missing'' at AllMovie
* {{Tsui Hark 2008 films Hong Kong fantasy films Hong Kong ghost films Hong Kong supernatural horror films 2008 fantasy films 2000s ghost films 2008 horror films Films directed by Tsui Hark Films shot in Japan 2000s dark fantasy films 2000s Hong Kong films