The Disappeared (2008)

After a tragic accident, and a stay at mental health unit, Matthew returns to his home with his father, and the disappearance of his brother still looming over them.Matthew watches a few tapes of appeals and soon, starts to hear his brother calling him and sees I'm from afar.He appeals to his father, but he seems to blame him for his brothers disappearance, after all, he was supposed to be looking after him, but had a party and let him go to the playground.So Matthew is trying to rebuild his life, and although his friends and his councillor support him, he cannot let go. And neither can his brother.......It's really well acted, and the lead is phenomenal, as is the actor playing his father. And although nothing really happens throughout the film to shock, the build up and the brooding atmosphere of the tower block keeps you interested.The best aspect of the film is the relay ship between Matthew and his father. Bothe are really to blame for the boys disappearance, but both know this and have ammunition for one another. The father is the type with a short temper, and he at times seems like he is going to explode.The final third lets the side down a little though, going for the old serial killer routine and although some of the twists are really obvious from the start (Amy for one is the most obvious) it does try to treat the viewer as intelligent being rather than a gore hound.The serial killer side of the film was hopefully just for absolution for the missing boy, but it really does feel out of place here.But other than that, it's an amazing piece of cinema with two wonderful performances from the two leads.

*****MAY CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS****A boy and his father have a difficult relationship and they live together in a small flat in a big high-rise block of ugly, apartments for unliked people, that is alienating and depersonalising. Wasn't there a movement to get rid of these high-rises about forty or fifty years ago? Has society regressed in THIS way ALSO, since Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" came out in 1971?!So, anyway, it is all so sad and depressing. The unlikable teenage boy's younger brother has disappeared while playing in one of the concrete playgrounds attached to these apartments, and there is so much unresolved grief accompanied by unexplained and suspicious circumstances that it is depressing to everyone around them, as well as to themselves, and is associated with anger and violent emotional responses everywhere. And on top of the inhuman architectural depravity there is an overbearing atmosphere of threats of being further degraded by the mental health system, which seems to have goody-goody government and church-employed community-vampires preying on these people - who are being kept like sardines in a human warehouse 24 hours a day - popping in to see if "everything's alright?"; "Are you alright?" being the constantly repeated question in this environment - people nervously checking on each other all the time.Throughout this movie there is a prevailing and constant fear - or paranoia - being expressed, of experiences that are outside of "normal" human experience, so when the boy begins hearing and seeing things that aren't there (from other people's perspectives), he is just one step away from being turned-in, abducted, and kept kidnapped indefinitely, by the local mental hospital. To add to this tension, which gets so bad that his best friend calls him a "psycho" and kicks him out of his flat in paranoid-terror when he turns to him to talk about his psychic experiences, unable to communicate with his father, there is also a widespread adoption of a culture of patriarchal suppression of selfhood, so that everywhere there are people releasing and expressing their personal hangups in violent and difficult emotional outbursts.***POSSIBLE, BUT VERY CRYPTIC SPOILER IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH**** I do think this film has something important to say about society's ills being obviously and intentionally inflicted from above due to unadmitted-to pressures and society's self-censorship. There is also a parallel Christian patriarchal religious dimension - you will see if you watch this movie - in which Christianity (like the mental-health system employees) pretends to be the saviour of the soul, while, in reality, being the disease that it claims to cure and the imprisoner of the soul ... I think the symbolism in this film is talking about evil, per se, and the preying Anglican Church counsellor's use of the fiery inversion of the Christian cross as a symbol of pure evil in the film is an IRONIC inversion, just as is the mental health system claiming to be the saviour of the people that THEY prey upon and whom THEY mentally torture - as human-cargo in THEIR concrete prisons.Into this dismal and claustrophobic setting comes the need for resolution and understanding of what is happening around and to the protagonist; a psychic need for truth and meaning, and a search for a reason, perhaps the identity of a killer or killers; and a need to know the fate of a missing sibling.As social-commentary I do applaud the making of this movie, for its EDUCATIVE value. But it is painful to witness the constant false-angst, this pot, boiling with emotional pain, and the personal hangups that these people maintain through lack of honesty with their own inner-thoughts and their true-identities - the protagonist, himself, is no more than a crippled cardboard cut-out, not a true human being at all! The music in this movie only makes it worse - oh, pull the heartstrings! Why use this awful, crappy and oh, so patronising music?! What are you inflicting it upon us for?! Two other examples I can easily and convincingly suggest, from Britain, are the movie "Flood"(2008) and the new "Doctor Who" (from 2005), and just about every drama, especially made for Australian television (Federal Government-required ocker-brainwashing) made in Australia, such as the recent movie "Sanctum"(2011), which appears to be struggling in torment and agony with issues of paedophilia.But social-commentary alone does not make good entertaining horror-movies, I am sorry. And to make it worse, this movie is blatantly copying the brilliantly original "The Sixth Sense" (1999) - but in a deprived, violent setting, where boys are committed to the pointless, banal, stupid, destructive, malicious and unreasonable obsession and self-deception of proving their manhood, to the mutually assured mental and psychic destruction of every human being in the neighbourhood. So it is both visually and conceptually unappealing, AND repelling, AND, to top it off, derivative. And I found that to be a bad flaw with the ending, which seems to compete with "The Sixth Sense", but, unlike "The Sixth Sense" does not leave you, the audience, with a chilling realization - the ending is more like a one-line twist, a throw-away line that is only MILDLY surprising, and no shock, as it is presumably intended to be, at all.

The Disappeared is set in a rundown working class region of England & starts as teenager Matthew Ryan (Harry Treadaway) is released from hospital, going home with his father Jake (Greg Wise) there is an undeniable tension between the two over the disappearance of Matthew's younger brother Tom. One blames the other although it was Matthew's responsibility to look after Tom when he disappeared, Matthew was at a party & let Tom wander outside at night on his own from which point he hasn't been seen again. Matthew starts to hears Tom's voice, Matthew thinks he sees quick flashes of Tom & becomes convinced that his missing brother is trying to tell him something. His father thinks Matthew is crazy but after following the clues & messages Matthew thinks he has discovered what happened to Tom...This British production was co-written, co-produced & directed by Johnny Kevorkian & like so many low budget wannabe classic films that do the rounds at festivals & get great write-ups I simply cannot see what the fuss is about, I found The Disappeared a dreary thriller with slight supernatural overtones that in the end felt to me like a much more grim take on The Sixth Sense (1999) with the main twist at the end. Seriously, The Disappeared is basically a depressing take on The Sixth Sense & I stand by the fact I think the ending of the two films are very similar. I am not quite sure what the makers of The Disappeared were aiming for or who they thought their audience would be, the majority of The Disappeared feels like a gritty British drama set on a scummy rundown council estate (don't knock them, people have to live in these places) where nothing good ever happens as it's always grey, depressing & full of yobs, the unemployed & abused children. The Disappeared certainly tries to show the uglier side of Britain & what the working class way of life. The first thirty odd minutes is decent enough drama I suppose but then the supernatural aspect is gradually introduced, first it's just voices but soon develops into visiting ghost's & seeing strange religious symbols. I wasn't keen on the ending either, the paedophile priest is something that we have all become aware of because of the media here in the UK so again the makers take delight in showing the seedier & nastier side of British life to no great effect. The twist reveal at the end doesn't even make that much sense, while Matthew supposedly killed the villain it's also said later the body was never found so what gives? At an hour & a half it drags a little in places & I can't say I was enthralled although it does have it's moments & can be quite powerful at times.Although almost certainly deliberate The Disappeared has a really grey, dreary & dull look about it with no bright colours evident at all. The real life scummy council estate location looks suitably rank & I can confirm there are places that ratty here in the UK. There is definitely an atmosphere here, not a scary one but a depressing downbeat one that makes The Disappeared a little soul destroying to watch at times. The script takes itself very seriously & there's no comic relief or throwaway humour here at all. Violence & gore is minimal, in fact I can't remember any gore at all but that's clearly not what The Disappeared is about. It's about grief, it's about relationships, it's about an atmosphere of hopelessness & it's about the supernatural.Filmed on location here in the UK in London The Disappeared does look pretty good, the production values are solid but the final ten minutes or so are too dark & there's too much of that shaky camera rubbish. The cast do a great job to be fair, the leads are excellent but in a way that makes the film even more downbeat than it already is.The Disappeared is a film that I can look at & see that it's very well made with excellent acting & a potentially strong story but the whole downbeat atmosphere, The Sixth Sense twist & questions left unanswered by the conclusion left me feeling underwhelmed. Some may like it's gritty approach but I didn't I'm afraid.

This movie was a pleasant surprise on all accounts. It's fairly creepy, has a good pace and is very well acted. Why they should want to advertise this as a horror movie is beyond me, it's not horror at all, more a supernatural thriller, like (for instance) Dragonfly is; like that one it's about dead people who try to communicate with the living to pass on an important message. For the die-hard horror fans there's not much to enjoy: no graphic killings, no gore, hardly any blood-shed and no spectacular special effects; the creepiness is mainly atmospheric, but to me (and I'm actually a big horror fan myself) it totally worked, so kudos to Johnny Kevorkian who directed and (co-)wrote this movie. The whole project impresses as low-budgeted, but they made that cleverly work in favor of the movie, the dreadful and desolate surroundings of the suburban apartment-buildings adding up to the needed surreal atmosphere. Young Harry Treadaway gives a fine and very convincing performance as the traumatized and guilt-ridden Matthew who feels responsible for his little brothers disappearance one evening when he was having a booze and pot party on his room with friends and more or less forgot about his brother playing alone outside. Treadaways acting is impressive: very restrained and subtle and with a surprising maturity. Gregg Wise plays the father with equal perfection, the awkward and strained relationship between the two of them gets palpable in an almost claustrophobic way. A special mention to Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films!) who gives a good performance in his small role as Matthews buddy Simon. My only slight criticism is more general in respect to this kind of films: I always wonder why dead people are supposed to follow such elaborate and cryptic schemes to deliver an important message - can't they just announce it fair and square in a dream or write it down supernaturally on a piece of paper?! Now poor Matthew has to spend a whole movie trying to decipher all these weird goings-on! And boy, they are really stretching the limits of credibility in this one! I mean: I can live with hearing the voice of a dead loved-one, or seeing a dead person from the corner of your eyes flash by. But spending many a day with a girlfriend (and making out with her!), who afterwards turns out to be already dead ?! Visiting a neighborhood medium and even receiving a drawing from her little child when afterwards both turned out to having been dead for a long time too?!? It maybe was a bit too much to swallow, but anyway, it sort of comes with this kind of territory and it didn't diminish my appreciation at all. I give the movie a heartfelt 9 out of 10!