Missing Pieces tells
two closely entwined but separate stories in a sort of stream of conscious, non-linear
fashion. One of the stories is about a very sick man trying to put the pieces
of his mind back together after a devastating car accident left it shattered,
and the other focuses on a couple of kids trying to piece their lives together
and discover who they are for the first time. It was written and directed on an
extremely limited budget by first time feature director Kenton Bartlett, and
what he manages to get on the screen hints at quite a bit of future potential. Missing Pieces wrestles with the big
questions of life, love, identity, and morality; and it does so in a pretty
thought provoking manner. It asks the question of what happens when we put our
own personal puzzles together and find that there are pieces missing. Can we
stand to be beings with gaping holes at our center? Will we be able to accept
imperfection in ourselves? Rocky said that he and Adrian had gaps, and together
they filled gaps. David (Mark Boone Junior), the protagonist of this film, must
have been a fan of that one, because much of the plot’s forward motion comes
from his attempts at rekindling a lost romance. Things aren’t going to be so
sweet and simple for this character, however; because he happens to be crazy as
shit and his moral compass has been all but shattered.
The title works as a theme on several levels. It speaks to
the journeys of self discovery the characters are on, it points to the process
the viewer has to go through to follow the non-linear presentation, and it
probably speaks to the experience a very young director went through trying to
piece together his first film with very limited resources. Though it is generally
satisfying by it’s end, Missing Pieces tries
the viewer’s patience a bit in the first act by jumping around a lot
chronologically and presenting heaps of abstract imagery that needs to be waded
through. It explains itself and comes together eventually, but some scenes can
move rather slowly, and at its current runtime it gets a bit long in the tooth.
The younger cast members, Taylor Engel and Daniel Hassel are likable and have
an easy chemistry, but they’re still a little too unpolished as actors to give
great performances. That’s made up for a bit by solid performances by Boone,
who I’ve loved in other indies like Lonesome
Jim, and who more than proves he can anchor a film in a leading role here;
and also Melora Walters, who I loved in Magnolia
and would like to see more of both in this film and in general. Similarly,
though Bartlett is working under a very tight budget, you never feel like
you’re watching less than a professional product due to the film’s impressive
photography and well-chosen locations. Though Missing Pieces has a few too many flaws to be a total success, it
plants Bartlett firmly on the list of young directors to watch.
