Year of Release: 2020
Director: Liz Garbus
Starring: Amy Ryan, Thomasin McKensie, Gabriel Byrne, Lola Kirke, Miriam Shor, Dean Winters, Kevin Corrigan, Reed Birney, Oona Laurence, Grace Capeless, Ana Reeder, Jimi Stanton
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
"Lost Girls" is based on a true story and on the book by Robert Kolker, "Lost Girls: An Unresolved American Mystery". It had its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, in January of 2020 before being released by streaming platform Netflix. The narrative focuses on the story of Mari Gilbert, a single mother working multiple jobs to make ends meet in the area of Long Island, NY. When her eldest daughter goes missing, Mari reaches out to the police, who initially don't care much about her missing persons report. That changes when a police officer accidentally uncovers the remains of what turns out to be 4 different young women who had disappeared a few years back near the area where Shannan, Mari's daughter, was last sighted. Suddenly the attention is focused on uncovering Shannan's whereabouts, as well as to what happened with those 4 young women (who turns out to have been sex workers, using Craigslist as their means of procuring clients). As the pressure mounts on a pre-retirement Police commissioner, Mari stops at nothing to uncover what has happened with her daughter, whom she had a conflicting relationship with. As more bodies are uncovered, the more fear mounts that Shannan won't be found alive, something that causes more distress to Mari's other two daughters. Mari decides to follow some clues and do some of her investigation, but that eventually leads nowhere, until Shannan's body is indeed uncovered.
"Lost Girls" hails from director Liz Garbus, a prolific documentarian, who has also veered into directing prestige TV Shows, including "Yellowjackets", "The Handmaid's Tale", and "City on Fire". Her extensive work in documentaries comes across in the way she manages to capture an unflinching portrayal of a woman on a quest to find her daughter, and in the process give her more humanity than simply falling under the guise of a "murdered sex worker". It's a film that smartly mixes the images and archival footage of the actual investigation of the murders which took place in 2011, with the staged aspect of the film, which is shot and captured in an emotional, yet not manipulative manner. The narrative could have benefitted from providing some additional layers of detail on the lead and supporting characters, including the late Mari Gilbert and her daughters. That being said, Mari's portrayal is a vivid one, someone who comes across as a resourceful and stoic individual in the face of crushing events. The cast is uniformly great, and they bring authenticity, grit and warmth to the narrative, led by the always fantastic Amy Ryan, with solid support from Thomasin McKensie, Gabriel Byrne, Lola Kirke and Miriam Shor. The production team is solid, including the beautiful cinematography from Igor Martinovic, and score from Anne Nikitin. A solid film worth watching.
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