Lost Girls

A "one woman's quest" movie that nimbly ducks the clichés of the genre, starring Amy Ryan as a waitress searching for her missing sex-worker daughter. Sexist, judgemental police and the indifference of the residents of the elite gated beach community where daughter Shannan was last seen are the targets of a script that favours righteous anger over character development. Luckily, Ryan - who in films like Gone Baby Gone proved she can do a lot with very little - puts flesh on the bones of the doughty, confrontational and very persistent Mari. The same cannot be said for almost tokenistic male Gabriel Byrne. However, the largely excellent female support cast adds grit, as does director Liz Garbus, an old documentary hand who loves her overcast skies and gloomy interiors. If the whole thing does not quite gel, that's partly to do with our expectations of a happy or at least conclusive ending - this is a true story and the outcome was a sad one.