‘Vanished into the Night’ Netflix Movie Review - A Ridiculous Mystery Thriller

I think I might have developed a sixth sense after spending so many years watching movies. Nowadays, that sixth sense, like Spidey sense, puts me on alert mode whenever I, with a pen and a notepad, sit down in front of my screen. A voice inside my head begged me to close my browser when I was merely a few minutes into Renato De Maria's mystery thriller, Vanished into the Night. Its deliberately manipulative opening scene seemed, at first, like a desperate cry for attention, though gradually, I realized it was meant to be taken as a warning. Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio) and his wife, Elena (Annabelle Wallis), are seen swimming with their kids. They dive inside the water, return to the surface, and realize the children are missing. As the husband and the wife shout, "Bianca! Giovanni!" we cut to Pietro and Elena sitting opposite each other with their respective lawyers arguing in front of a judge. The movie leads us to believe that the children died, which might have put a strain on the couple's relationship. Hence, they are present with their lawyers to go through the divorce proceedings.

Well, Vanished Into the Night almost immediately pulls the rug from beneath your feet. We learn that the kids are very much alive - they were just pranking their parents. Pietro and Elena are getting a divorce all right, but they have a different reason. What is it? It's futile to talk about it. Their reason for separation is as weak as their backstory. It's all purposefully elusive, except for the fact that Elena doesn't want to live with Pietro and has given up on their dream, which has something to do with...well, I cannot remember it. Of course, I can replay the movie and get the details right, but it would be a worthless exercise. Because, in the end, Vanished Into the Night is very pleased, very content with its "twists." De Maria places so much trust in the story that he doesn't work on his actors or his style. The film's emphasis on unexpected plot developments sidelines the character development and directorial aesthetics. This so-called story is packed with red herrings, so all De Maria does is point his camera toward almost everything ominously. The narrative is punctuated with misleading clues, and every scene, including the one where Elena watches Pietro depart on his boat, exudes an atmosphere of unease and suggests that something is amiss. You can hear the screen whispering, "Look, something's definitely not right."

What's more, even Scamarcio's expressions do the job of sending suspicious signals to the audience. His Pietro always looks guilty, as if telling us that things are going to get ugly. Well, one of my complaints is that they don't get ugly enough. When Pietro is on his boat with drugs and the engine stops working, he is forced to call the coast guards. A man trying to hide drugs in the presence of the police? Well, the scene should be suspenseful or awesomely terrifying. De Maria's execution, though, is so loose, so casual you think you are watching a calm, family dinner scene. The scene gives you the same feeling as those sunny shots of Pietro and his family smiling. In De Maria's hands, however, you feel almost nothing. You do experience shock mixed with disbelief during the Big Reveal. This reaction, however, stems from predictability. Minutes before the revelation, you flirt with an absurd notion, and when it turns out to be the film's actual secret, you open your eyes wide and start laughing. Why pay filmmakers for such rubbish when the audience is capable of imagining ridiculous twists like these?

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times