Neo-noir is the grandchild of film-noir which basically was an expressionist creative output that started to fade as an artistic style in the late 50's. Neo-noir style films come in all sorts of forms. This one is an homage in the truest sense. It isn't some sort of underlying influence with a modern panache, it is a bare bones portrayal of a man out of time.His time is when film noir flourished. A time when you could smoke where you wanted, coffee was made in a percolator on a stove, alcohol was carried in a flask, cops patrolled in cars (not some two wheeled foot extension), phones had a cord attached, and a listening device was a stethoscope.But our hero has been engulfed in some kind of post 911 time warp, sucked into a nether world where everything is slightly off center . It's a tale of mistaken preconceptions, jazz, and a big cash payout. A good looking retro feel and an incredible, twisted face, lead performance make this a fine homage and a grandchild worth loving.

What director Noah Buschel has concocted with "The Missing Person" is to take a genre and fine tune it with touches that, while original, ultimately pay homage to, and even nourish, noir.What he has done,too, is set up any number of movies he might want to make with the masterly Michael Shannon as private eye John Rosow; and re-recruit, too, the saucily effective Amy Ryan.This moody artwork about finding a mysteriously but voluntary missing person has all sorts of twists and turns, none predictable, as it weaves its way through the dark.That Shannon plays roles Bogart feasted on is all too true. but it is the rugged countenance of Mitchum that he more facilely brings to mind. Shannon,so powerful in the film "Revolutionary Road" and then HBO's raunchy and real "Boardwalk Empire" series, and yet again in the rock film "The Runaways," is special, indeed. His screen effect is compelling,mesmerizing.All we need now is a script and the word "Action!"

In "The Missing Person," Michael Shannon goes the Bogart route, playing a cynical, booze-soaked private detective who's hoping to find a little redemption in his latest assignment, trailing a man he knows little to nothing about – not even his name. But before long, John discovers that there's much more to this man than meets the eye, and that the two of them are strangely linked to one another through the tragedy of 9/11. In a way, each of them is a "missing person," one in a literal and one in a figurative sense. Indeed, the best thing about "The Missing Person" is that just as you think the movie is about one thing, it turns out to be about something else altogether.This moody, bluesy, boozy movie, written and directed by Noah Buschel and co-starring Amy Adams, is deliberate in its pacing and borderline pretentious in style, with characters who speak in clipped phrases, uttering half-articulated thoughts and hardboiled wisecracks as the details of the story spin themselves out. It may not be for every taste, but the movie hauntingly captures the different but equally intense responses people can have to trauma and loss.

It might be easy to dismiss "The Missing Person" as a derivative film that tries to cash on the noir genre. Staying with it will pay off, even though it is an uneven picture, only saved by the mood and the atmosphere director Noah Buschel created for his audience. The film delves into a story that is logical and it makes one wonder how many other cases like the one at the center of the story have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous people trying to cash in a truly American tragedy.John Rosow tells us in the opening passages about the only thing that made him become involved in this mystery was because he answered a telephone call. Little did he know he was going to be drawn into an intriguing tale following a man that, for all practical purposes, has been proclaimed dead. When he is made an offer he cannot refuse following Harold Fullmer to Los Angeles from Chicago, he has no idea what he will become involved in.Harold Fullmer was supposed to have died on the 9/11 attacks to the World Trade Center in New York. What nobody knows is that he has survived the tragedy and has decided to get a new life away from his past. Harold decides to save young children that have been abused against their will. He brings them into a Mexican town where a shady character is supposed to see they are returned to their innocent lives before they were made victims.Noah Buschel, the creator of the film, has gone for style and mood, rather than a plausible story. One can only questions Fullmer's vision about the good deeds he is supposed to be doing. Turning the damaged children he is supposed to be saving to a man whose morals leave a lot to be desired, does not speak well of his sense of justice. The character of John Rosow recalls a cross between other screen sleuths, mainly Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, to mention just two. The enigmatic Charlie, a peripheral minor player is also an enigma. Ultimately John Rosow's role in that fatal attack is revealed and his motive of siding with Fullmer is clearly understood.Michael Shannon makes an impressive Rosow. This young actor keeps getting better all the time. He is an actor that takes a while to get used to, but he delivers big time as the complex man that has also suffered a great loss. Amy Ryan has a small role as Charlie. The excellent Margaret Colin serves as a distraction for Rosow in Los Angeles while his investigation is in full swing. Frank Wood looks catatonic most of the time in his take of Harold Fullmer.