When a family member dies, there's grief, of course, but not when they were supposed to care for you, and they, sadly, did the opposite. For most survivors, there’s sadness, but also anger, confusion, and sometimes even relief. For Eric in The Missing, there’s an alien encounter that brings him to remember his past, an abduction only remembered in rudimentary sketches, roughly filled and fragmented, and that leaves him with no memory of how he got there. The animation may not be as smooth as we’ve seen from other countries, but the roughness matches this unusual, fantastical approach, effectively matching Eric’s state of mind as he tries to reconcile with his body. Iti Mapukpukaw captures a tragic loss of innocence, but it also captures how healing a connection can be.

The performances. Carlo Aquino is no stranger to roles with limited dialogue– see Isa Pa with Feelings– so he’s probably the best person to depict Eric, who is animated mostly without a mouth.