After 12 days of screenings, panels, and interviews, the 40th annual Santa Barbara Film Festival (SBIFF) has come to an end. The closing-night film, A Missing Part (Une Part Manquante) provided an introspective and moving finale to this year’s SBIFF season on February 15.
Before the film screening at the Arlington on Saturday night, both the President of the SBIFF board, Ernesto Paredes, and the Managing Director, Sean Pratt, commented on the hard work of all of the volunteers and Executive Director, Roger Durling. They also assured the audience that films will continue to unite year round with SBIFF’s unique programs and theaters.
The final night offered A Missing Part’s U.S. premiere. The Belgian-French drama was directed by Guillaume Senez. The film’s language itself was in both French and Japanese, with English subtitles. The film explores a father-daughter relationship and societal and familial barriers that come between them. Jay, the protagonist, is a French taxi driver working in Tokyo, Japan. He has spent many years looking for his daughter, Lily, after his wife left him and took Lily with her. He and his wife have broken contact, so Jay is very sneaky about trying to see Lily again, and having a reason to stay in Japan.
When he has suspicions that he is picking up Lily from her school every day, he secretly gets to know Lily without letting her know who he really is. He develops a distanced relationship with his daughter as he watches her from afar, and eventually works up the courage to tell Lily that he is her not-so absent father.
Meanwhile, he meets a French woman, Jessica, who has also been separated from her child due to the wishes of her partner. Because of Japan’s strict laws regarding custody of children, both Jay and this woman face similar struggles of wanting to have contact and control over their relationship with their children. Their friendship allows some discussion of their similar circumstances and through this we understand Jay’s behavior toward Lily a bit better.
Eventually, the film concludes with both Jay and Jessica having an unorthodox connection with their children and each other. They say goodbye to each other and to the people they were before.
