Earthquake Bird

A young woman is missing in Tokyo. What happened to her? The prime suspect in the disappearance is her friend, Lucy (Alicia Vikander), a quiet translator who has lived in Japan for five years. The missing girl is Lily (Riley Keough), an outgoing American who might have been involved with Lucy's boyfriend, secretive photographer Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi). Lucy is the focus of this moody, slow-burn mystery thriller, which is set in 1989, and, while the story is a little confusing in places (is she seeing things?), it has a woozy, hypnotic quality that occasionally draws you in. Lucy and Teiji's romance doesn't have the heat or intensity required to fully engage, but Kobayashi is suitably charismatic and mysterious. So while Earthquake Bird isn't especially thrilling, it is atmospheric and intriguing enough that the story should keep you guessing until the very end.