She's Missing

Irish film-maker Alexandra McGuinness set her feature-length debut Lotus Eaters in London, where feckless young folk dull their existential pain with drink and drugs. A native of Dublin who moved to London for film school, she has yet to make a feature film set in Ireland. Here, she ambitiously aims for a Paris, Texas-like missing-persons drama set against a backdrop of rodeos and military wives in New Mexico. Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) and Lucy Fry play gal pals Jane and Heidi, who have contrasting outlooks on life beyond the grind of waitressing and getting out of it on sachets of cactus-green barbiturate - the former is a married, wannabe rodeo queen who dreams of escape, the latter seemingly happy with her lot, even dallying with an older man who offers virtually nothing in return. When Jane disappears without trace, only Heidi seems to care, and the quest to find her bestie sends her to some dark places. She's Missing is laconic and slow-moving, and occasionally fuzzy, but it has a palpable sense of small-town ennui and accepting your lot in life. There's a touch of Andrea Arnold's free-flowing American Honey but without its sense of freedom, and a wasted cameo from Josh Hartnett. However, McGuinness clearly relishes worlds outside of her own and shows real investment in her female protagonists.