missing

MISSING: Catch The Official U.S. Trailer For The Eerie Suspensful Crime Drama Starring Jiro Sato And Aoi Ito

An eerie shot of actor Jiro Sato’s wayward character motioning with a hammer is precisely just one in a series of moments that precede the grisly, chilling and dramatic unfolding of events in Shinzo Katayama’s first commercial release, Missing (click here for my Fantastic Fest review). The official U.S. trailer from Dark Star Pictures commences in the same fashion and as of Friday, you can view that trailer above with Sato toplining the new crime drama alongside Aoi Ito who plays his on-screen daughter, and Hiroya Shimizu as a menacing fugitive with a deadly, horrific secret. Missing will open theatrically in New York (Film Noir, Brooklyn), Los Angeles (Laemmle Glendale), Cleveland (Gateway) and major cities on November 4, 2022, followed by a VOD/Cable release in the U.S. and Canada on November 18, 2022. Dark Star will also release the film on Blu-Ray beginning December 6. Read on for the announcement, […]

MISSING: Shinzo Katayama’s New Dramatic Thriller Scores Winter 2022 U.S. Rollout Via Dark Star

Lee B. Golden III

Following its acquisition by Dark Star Pictures last month, Siblings Of The Cape helmer Shinzô Katayama’s newest dramatic thriller, Missing, is now headed for a theatrical U.S. release in select cities followed by an On-Demand rollout this November. The film, marking Katayama’s commercial debut as of January, just recently screened for Fantastic Fest after its near-yearlong festival circulation, featuring headliners Jiro Sato and Hiroya Shimizu and young star Aoi Ito. Depressed and in debt following the death of his wife, Santoshi (Jiro Sato) tells his young daughter he has found a way out. Pointing to a reward note, he vows to find the infamous serial killer “No Name” (Hiroya Shimizu) and cash in, claiming to have seen the man in the flesh a few days earlier. Kaeda (Aoi Ito) cannot take her aloof father serious. But when he goes missing without a trace, she starts to fear the worst—and must […]

Fantastic Fest XVII Review: MISSING, On Finding Closure With Cataclysmic Effect

Lee B. Golden III

Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics pertaining to suicide and depression. I’ve covered actor Jiro Sato in mostly comedy roles since he first landed on my radar with Gintama, The Fable, the sequels to both, and eventually From Today, It’s My Turn!!. So, it’s definitely been rewarding to get to explore more of Sato’s dimensions in Siblings Of The Cape helmer and Bong Joon-ho vet Shinzô Katayama’s crime drama, Missing, in which he stars opposite young actress Aoi Ito, who’s been a burgeoning talent for nearly a decade now. The film is actually one of a few credits the two actors share together with the other being NHK series “Hikikomori Sensei”. I haven’t seen that show, although still, I reckon anytime actors reunite from a previous project, then it’s usually a good thing. At least here in Missing, it shows, with Sato and Ito in the respective roles of former […]