| A Missing Part | |
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 French theatrical release poster | |
| French | Une part manquante |
| Directed by | Guillaume Senez |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Elin Kirschfink |
| Edited by | Julie Brenta |
| Music by | Olivier Marguerit |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
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A Missing Part (French : Une part manquante) is a 2024 Belgian-French drama film directed by Guillaume Senez. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2024.
Having lost custody of his half-Japanese daughter after a divorce, a French taxi driver in Tokyo spends his days looking for her. When she finally enters his taxi, she does not recognize him.
Director Guillaume Senez was inspired to write the film after learning about post-divorce parental custody rights in Japan. [1] [2] To aid in their research, Senez and actor Romain Duris met with three French nationals who had lost custody of their children due to Japanese law. [3]
Principal photography began in October 2023. Filming locations included Tokyo, Sagami Bay, and Yokohama. [4] [5]
A clip from the film was released on 6 September 2024. [3] The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2024. [6] It received a theatrical release in France on 13 November 2024. [3]
David Opie of IndieWire gave the film a grade of B+, writing, "This often quiet, thoughtful story of a man who's incomplete reminds us to keep fighting for the part that's missing, whether that be striving for change or even just existing to fight another day." [7]
Louis Roberts of Loud and Clear Reviews rated the film four stars out of five and wrote, "...Serez's film raises questions that go beyond mere legislation, interrogating the attitudes that make up a country's social fabric. That he manages to achieve such ambitions without sacrificing the movie's intimacy speaks volumes about his craftsmanship." [8]
Aurore Engelen of Cineuropa wrote, "Buoyed by a super-efficient screenplay, composed of little nothings which result in this impossible encounter, taking a chiaro-scuro path towards a resolution that's as luminous as it is doomed from the outset, A Missing Part explores both a father’s obsession and the irreconcilable otherness of a foreigner or stranger." [9]
Paul Enicola of The Asian Cut complimented Senez's direction in portraying a "deglamorized Tokyo...allowing the city to emerge as a character in its own right. And with the urban landscape mirroring Jay's estrangement and alienation, the film [emphasizes] his growing sense of disconnect from a world that has always felt foreign to him." [10]
Romain Duris is a French actor.
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Guillaume Senez is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. He studied at the National Institute of Radioelectricity and Cinematography (INRACI) in Brussels and graduated from there. He made his feature-length debut in 2015 with Keeper, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film received eight nominations at the 7th Magritte Awards and won three, including Best First Feature Film.
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Cineuropa is an online information portal dedicated to the promotion of European cinema. It publishes daily news, reviews, interviews, and industry reports and maintains a database of information. It is available in four languages: English, French, Italian and Spanish. It is co-funded by the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union. El País described Cineuropa as "an online media outlet that is very popular in the industry."
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