Mariko Tsutsui already had many stage, TV and film credits when she appeared in Koji Fukada¡¯s 2016 drama ¡°Harmonium.¡± But her performance as a woman whose life is destroyed by Tadanobu Asano¡¯s seductive ex-con was a revelation. She made the leap from the naive and sexually starved wife of the film¡¯s first half to the hardened and guilt-ridden survivor of the second while maintaining her laser focus on the character¡¯s inner core.

The role won her a shelf of local awards and made her an in-demand film actor, albeit still mostly in supporting parts. Now she has reunited with Fukada in ¡°A Girl Missing,¡± which again gives full play to her formidable talents, but this time as the star.

The Japanese title, ¡°Yokogao¡± (literally, ¡°side profile¡°) says more about her character, who shows her ¡°good¡± side to the world, while seething with not-so-good feelings. Similar to the heroine of ¡°Harmonium,¡± she is crushed by events beyond her control ¡ª namely, a media feeding frenzy of the sort often seen in recent local films. One notable example is Takaomi Ogata¡¯s ¡°The Hungry Lion¡± (2017), a stark examination of a teenager¡¯s online slut-shaming and suicide.