Movie Review: Lost Girls

Lost Girls *** / *****

Directed by: Liz Garbus.

Written by: Michael Werwie based on the book by Robert Kolker.

Starring: Amy Ryan (Mari Gilbert), Thomasin McKenzie (Sherre Gilbert), Gabriel Byrne (Commissioner Doman), Oona Laurence (Sarra Gilbert), Lola Kirke (Kim), Dean Winters (Dean Bostick), Molly Brown (Missy), Miriam Shor (Lorraine), Ana Reeder (Lynn), Grace Capeless (Amanda), Reed Birney (Dr. Peter Hackett), Kevin Corrigan (Joe Scalise).

 

The unsolved Long Island serial killer case is so large, and so bizarre, that any attempt to dramatize it probably really wouldn’t work too well. There are just too many characters, too many suspects, and victims, and police officers, etc. – that a certain concentration would be needed even if you were to make a miniseries out of the vast amount of material – let alone what Liz Garbus has done in Lost Girls – which is to make a 90 minute feature. It is an odd choice in many ways – why did they pay for the rights of Robert Kolker’s excellent, expansive book, only to concentrate so narrowly on just one story? Yet, the story that is told remains fascinating and interesting, even if you do definitely get the sense that there is more to the story here – more going on than what we are told. And there is.

 

The story that Lost Girls tells focuses on Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) – whose daughter Shannen goes missing one day, and she has to work hard to get anyone to take her seriously. Shannen was a sex worker – not a street walker, but someone who advertised on Craigslist. She went to see a client on Long Island, called 911, ran through the streets and then just vanished. Mari has trouble getting the cops – sad eyed Commissioner Doman (Gabriel Bryne) and obviously uncaring Detective Bostick (Dean Winters) to take the disappearance seriously. She keeps pushing – and because she does, eventually bodies are found buried on the beach, wrapped in burlap – multiple women. None of them are Shannen though.

 

The key to the movie working is Ryan – who delivers one of her very best performances in what is certainly one of the meatiest roles she has received since her Oscar nominated turn in Gone Baby Gone. Mari is obviously a flawed character – a single mother struggling to raise two teenage girls – Sherre (Thomasin Mackenize) and Sarra (Oona Laurence) – racked with guilt over the various ways she failed, or feels she failed, Shannen over her short life. She is determined that she will not fail her again in death. And yet, in concentrating so heavily on this case, she almost seems to be repeating the same pattern again with her younger daughters. Thomasin Mackenize – so great in Leave No Trace, and one of the best parts of Jojo Rabbit – probably isn’t really needed here – she’s too good for this role, but she makes that case at one point. And Oona Laurence, who has been very good in various films, isn’t given a chance to really do anything – which is really odd considering what happens after the events of the movie (which makes for one of the biggest WTF moments ever relegated to onscreen text that I can remember). At times, you think Lost Girls may go in that direction – something than David Fincher’s Zodiac did as well – as people become so obsessed with trying to solve a mystery, that they lose everything else.

 

But Lost Girls doesn’t really do that. In fact, one of the flaws in the film is that it kind of tries to do everything, which is why it seems more scattershot than it should. So it is a portrait of Mari, and her obsession with this case – and the effect it has on her daughters. It’s also a movie about uncaring police – who took an hour to show up when Shannen called 911 the day she went missing, but showed up in minutes when some of the upper-class resident call to complain about Mari. It is about how people – police – and others – don’t really value the lives of prostitutes – which is why they are so often targeted by serial killers, because no one ends up looking for them. It also becomes a kind of conspiracy movie in the late stages – with a strange character played by Kevin Corrigan pointing the finger at another strange character, played by Reed Birney. Then there’s a subplot with Mari trying to stop the sister of one of the victims – played by Lola Kirke – from continuing doing what she is doing in an effort to protect her. The film runs just over 90 minutes, and tries to do way too much in that time.

 

The one consistent element though is Ryan – who is excellent through as Mari – who keeps the movie grounded, even when it seemingly goes off in too many different directions at once. The true-life story of Lost Girls is too big for any movie to tell – this movie both seems to realize that, and yet still tries to do too much for its own good. What works about it is great – but an even more concentrated, more narrowly focused films would have been even better.

Movie Review: What Happened, Miss Simone?

What Happened, Miss Simone?
Directed by: Liz Garbus.

When I watch a movie like What Happened, Miss Simone?, I often wonder just who the documentary is made for. The film does a good enough job of covering the life of the famed singer Nina Simone – who had a tumultuous life and career, and is widely regarded as one of the best singers and performers of her generation. This documentary is at its best when it does nothing but sit back and let Miss Simone take centre stage, and belt out her songs – doing something I have often argued more music docs should do, and actually allow full songs to play out so the audience can see just what it is that makes these musicians so special in the first place that they need an entire documentary made about them. But while the film does do a good job of hitting the big moments of Nina Simone’s life and career, it never really digs into either one that deeply – meaning that those most likely to watch a documentary about Nina Simone – her fans – will likely walk away not having learned all that much. For a Nina Simone layman like myself – the documentary works – and for fans, there is still all the great concert footage, but I cannot help but wonder if the film will end up truly satisfying anyone.

 Nina Simone did have an interesting, eventful life though. A brilliant pianist, whose talent could not overcome the fact that she was black in a racist country, she started playing in bars in the mid-1950s, and had to sing at the same time, or risk losing her job. Her talent was large and immediate, and over the years she had quite a few hits. Throughout the 1960s, she became involved in the Civil Rights movement – going so far to align herself with the Black Panthers, and others who thought violence was necessary if African Americans were to achieve equality – that no one was going to give it. This hurt her career for years afterwards. She also had an abusive marriage – one that ended, but also saw Simone physically abusing her own daughter (an interview subject in the movie).

The film follows a fairly standard issue musical biopic formula – the rise and fall and rise again one that has worked so well in Ray and Walk the Line, among other. If nothing else, it would seem like the life of Nina Simone would fit snugly alongside of those films – and perhaps Nina, starring Zoe Saldana as the singer, will do so when it comes out next year.

As a documentary, I didn’t find What Happened, Miss Simone all that enlightening. By trying to cover Simone’s entire life, so much is simply grazed over – and not given as much attention as it required to be truly great. But even if that could be frustrating at times, there is still that concert footage, which is brilliant – and enough here to make you want to learn more about Nina Simone. On that level, I guess, the film is a success.