MEGAN IS MISSING is a very bleak look into the sad and scary world of teenage girls. Megan is popular at school, but she and her mother have a horrible relationship, she has been sexually abused by her mother's boyfriends, and she hasn't figured out how to deal with other people except through promiscuity. She tries to escape with drug use, which doesn't help. A lot of her friends are also sexually overactive and drug users, so they aren't a real option for talking things out. What she needs is a good listening ear and genuine caring.
Those are things she gets from Amy, another of her friends. Amy is friendly and nice and has a good heart, but despite a loving family, she has terribly low self esteem and body dysmorphic disorder. At first Amy is envious of Megan's social life until she accompanies her to a pretty disgusting drug party where an older man gropes her and punches her in the face when she resists, everyone makes fun of her, and when she finds Amy, she is being treated like a dog by a boy she is fellating.
Amy begins to see that Megan's life is not so much to be envied, but the revelation does not carry over to lessening her self-punishing perspective. She sees herself as being dumpy, and she hates herself for it.
So, neither of these girls have very happy or hopeful lives, and they seek validation and affirmation where they can get it.
Megan starts talking to a strange boy online. Of course, if you know anything about this movie, you know the boy is really an adult internet predator.
The situation goes from bad to as bad as possible. The movie pulls absolutely no punches. If anything, it shoots you in face and then the gut and leaves you to bleed out.
The movie is not without its problems. For one thing, there is no upside at all. There is no happiness to balance the misery. Things start out bad and just get worse.
But a greater problem is the level of gratuity with which it establishes itself. The drug party is like watching Larry Clark's KIDS or MTV SKINS, and gives the impression of being conceived from a sleazy, pedophilic perspective. I don't think the party is unrealistic, I just think it's a very extreme example of a teen gathering.
Megan's interactions with her friends and everyone else are also pretty vulgar and over the top. Constant references to oral sex lead to a long discussion about it. It seems like all the over the top underage sexuality is in here for a reason other than realism.
But the filmmakers, in the special features and on the packaging, claim this film is a public service, warning us of danger. I can believe them, and I want to believe them, because I don't want to believe that there is some intent to titillate in the film's final scenes. However, the party scene puts their intentions in doubt, as does the overload of sex talk. There is a demographic that will get off on all of this, and I don't blame the filmmakers for the existence of those people, but it is not clear to me how much of this was deliberately made for satisfying predators and how much was aimed at warning their prey.
Yes, this movie is a call to be careful of strangers. There is also a call to just be better people to those around you, and to be better parents. Megan's relationship with her mother is horrible, and we find out that Megan's mother did nothing while a boyfriend sexually abused her daughter. This is very realistic. This is very commonplace. Just go for a walk outside and watch people and you'll see horrible parents everywhere. The screaming matches they have are directly the fault of the woman who never learned how to be a mother, who comes home and immediately takes her day's frustrations out on her daughter. The girls who are Megan's "cool" friends treat Amy like crap because they can. Someday all the things that are so important to them now are going to fade away and they will be left with the memory of how they treated her, and it's not going to be something they'll want to think about, but it will be something they can't take back.
That's the thing. When you're cruel to someone, you can't take it back.
Either way, because of or despite the filmmakers' intentions, there is a very strong, effective, and realistic movie in here, which does a very valuable thing: it makes us think. I just wish I was sure what they filmmakers were and were not going for. What is not in question is the powerful message of this movie about protecting your loved ones and being kind to people, which should stay with us forever. We all know an Amy and a Megan. Let's take a few extra minutes to tell them we love them, and to think about keeping them safe. In that sense, this is the most valuable and important movie you can see. Love your loved ones.
(I gave this movie a ten, not so much for enjoyability or cinematography, but for importance and urgency.)
Those are things she gets from Amy, another of her friends. Amy is friendly and nice and has a good heart, but despite a loving family, she has terribly low self esteem and body dysmorphic disorder. At first Amy is envious of Megan's social life until she accompanies her to a pretty disgusting drug party where an older man gropes her and punches her in the face when she resists, everyone makes fun of her, and when she finds Amy, she is being treated like a dog by a boy she is fellating.
Amy begins to see that Megan's life is not so much to be envied, but the revelation does not carry over to lessening her self-punishing perspective. She sees herself as being dumpy, and she hates herself for it.
So, neither of these girls have very happy or hopeful lives, and they seek validation and affirmation where they can get it.
Megan starts talking to a strange boy online. Of course, if you know anything about this movie, you know the boy is really an adult internet predator.
The situation goes from bad to as bad as possible. The movie pulls absolutely no punches. If anything, it shoots you in face and then the gut and leaves you to bleed out.
The movie is not without its problems. For one thing, there is no upside at all. There is no happiness to balance the misery. Things start out bad and just get worse.
But a greater problem is the level of gratuity with which it establishes itself. The drug party is like watching Larry Clark's KIDS or MTV SKINS, and gives the impression of being conceived from a sleazy, pedophilic perspective. I don't think the party is unrealistic, I just think it's a very extreme example of a teen gathering.
Megan's interactions with her friends and everyone else are also pretty vulgar and over the top. Constant references to oral sex lead to a long discussion about it. It seems like all the over the top underage sexuality is in here for a reason other than realism.
But the filmmakers, in the special features and on the packaging, claim this film is a public service, warning us of danger. I can believe them, and I want to believe them, because I don't want to believe that there is some intent to titillate in the film's final scenes. However, the party scene puts their intentions in doubt, as does the overload of sex talk. There is a demographic that will get off on all of this, and I don't blame the filmmakers for the existence of those people, but it is not clear to me how much of this was deliberately made for satisfying predators and how much was aimed at warning their prey.
Yes, this movie is a call to be careful of strangers. There is also a call to just be better people to those around you, and to be better parents. Megan's relationship with her mother is horrible, and we find out that Megan's mother did nothing while a boyfriend sexually abused her daughter. This is very realistic. This is very commonplace. Just go for a walk outside and watch people and you'll see horrible parents everywhere. The screaming matches they have are directly the fault of the woman who never learned how to be a mother, who comes home and immediately takes her day's frustrations out on her daughter. The girls who are Megan's "cool" friends treat Amy like crap because they can. Someday all the things that are so important to them now are going to fade away and they will be left with the memory of how they treated her, and it's not going to be something they'll want to think about, but it will be something they can't take back.
That's the thing. When you're cruel to someone, you can't take it back.
Either way, because of or despite the filmmakers' intentions, there is a very strong, effective, and realistic movie in here, which does a very valuable thing: it makes us think. I just wish I was sure what they filmmakers were and were not going for. What is not in question is the powerful message of this movie about protecting your loved ones and being kind to people, which should stay with us forever. We all know an Amy and a Megan. Let's take a few extra minutes to tell them we love them, and to think about keeping them safe. In that sense, this is the most valuable and important movie you can see. Love your loved ones.
(I gave this movie a ten, not so much for enjoyability or cinematography, but for importance and urgency.)