''Boy Missing'' ( es, Secuestro, lit=Kidnapping, links=no) is a 2016 Spanish

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Mar Targarona from a screenplay by

Oriol Paulo Oriol Paulo (born 30 July 1975) is a Spanish screenwriter and director. He is known for crime thriller movies such as '' The Body'' (2012) and ''The Invisible Guest'' (2016). Both films garnered international acclaim and were remade in several ...

, starring

Blanca Portillo Blanca Portillo Martínez de Velasco (born 15 June 1963) is a Spanish actress. Career Portillo started as an actress in several small theater productions before graduating in drama from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático. One of he ...

Premise

Disabled boy Víctor goes missing to the utter distress of his mother, lawyer Patricia de Lucas. Víctor reappears and claims he had been

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

ped by a man, but the alleged kidnapper walks free for lack of evidence. Patricia decides to take justice into her own hands.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Rodar y Rodar and it had the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

Cosmopolitan TV Cosmopolitan Television is a television network brand that targets a young female demographic consisting of acquired scripted television series, films, lifestyle series and more. The network's name is licensed from the Hearst Communications magaz ...

, TVC, and

Movistar+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by Telefónica, which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL and as well as with satellites such as ...

. Shooting locations in Catalonia included

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

L'Hospitalet de Llobregat L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (; es, Hospitalet de Llobregat), often shortened to L'Hospitalet or just L'H, is a municipality of Spain, located to the immediate southwest of Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is part of the Bar ...

Tavertet Tavertet is a small town located above some cliffs, 900m above sea level, in the area known as Collsacabra, north of the Guilleries, in the ''comarca'' of Osona in Catalonia. Below the cliffs is Pantà de Sau, a reservoir that dammed the waters ...

, and

Terrassa Terrassa (, es, Tarrasa) is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ' ...

Release

Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing de España, the film was released theatrically in Spain on 19 August 2016. It grossed €304,020 in its opening weekend.

Reception

of ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' wrote that "any resemblance between this film and an incisive reading of our reality seems purely coincidental", with the outcome turning out to be "a string of plot twists and turns" and "a cast of dedicated actors" "trying to swim against the currents of implausibility". Marta Medina of ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'' assessed that Targarona does not get the ''

mise-en-scène ''Mise-en-scène'' (; en, "placing on stage" or "what is put into the scene") is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in visual arts through storyboarding, visual theme, and cinematography, ...

'' to work well, with "the candor of some of the directorial bets significantly detracting from the result", some attempts at originality notwithstanding. Pere Vall of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó a ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting Portillo and the ''

quinqui Quinqui jargon is associated with '' quincalleros'' (tinkers), a semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called ''mercheros''. They are reduced in number and possibly vanishing as a distinct group. T ...

'' couple formed by Herrera and Gómez as the best things about the film. Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' rated the film with 50 points ('so so') deeming it to be "a thriller that finds its ballast in its key pieces: script, direction of actors and narrative fluidity". Manuel J. Lombardo of ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville. It is part of the communications group Grupo Joly. Its circulation as of 2013 was 23,172. The current ''Diario'' is not to be confused with a previous periodical of the sam ...

'' wrote about "the tonal and argumental nonsense of a film in which every element becomes a cliché·.

References

External links

* {{Oriol Paulo 2016 thriller films 2010s mystery thriller films 2010s Spanish films 2010s Spanish-language films Films about missing people Films shot in Barcelona Films shot in Terrassa Rodar y Rodar films Spanish mystery thriller films