Courtesy of Unifrance

The 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival concluded with the U.S. premiere of Belgian filmmaker Guillaume Senez’s “A Missing Part.” As the final screening of the 11-day event, the film served as the perfect capstone to a festival that once again recognized cinema excellence in the company of filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike. 

Closing night kicked off on Feb. 16 with a short speech from Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) Board President Ernesto Paredes, who first gave thanks to all of the sponsors and volunteers, calling them “the best in the business.” 

He then went on to encourage audience members to get more of the community involved, challenging each one to invite at least three locals to next year’s SBIFF and concluded his remarks by shouting out Montecito Award recipient Colman Domingo. He told the audience, “if you missed Colman Domingo, you better go on YouTube and catch that. That was unbelievable.”

Paredes was followed by SBIFF Managing Director Sean Pratt, who also took time to thank all of the sponsors, donors, filmmakers and volunteers. Pratt expressed his gratitude to the community, and emphasized how film brings people together. In his closing remarks, Pratt told the audience, “We’ve come together to cry, to laugh, to be scared and comforted … remember what your favorite films were, but remember what you saw, what you felt and, most of all, remember that you didn’t experience it alone.” 

Both Paredes and Pratt also made sure to mention the upcoming renovation of the former Fiesta 5 Theatre, which will have new life breathed into them to become SBIFF’s new film center. Paredes described the public as having “high class, Riviera-style expectations of the theater and the sound systems.” 

The center will allow the festival to have five additional screens to work with, expanding its programming opportunities. “There [will] be a different theater for everyone. There’s going to be something for everyone,” Paredes assured the audience.  

With the opening speeches concluded, the lights dimmed and “A Missing Part” was screened for the packed Arlington Theatre. The film follows Jérôme (played by Romain Duris), a French taxi driver who spends his days in Tokyo, searching for his estranged half-Japanese daughter, Lily (played by Mei Cirne-Masuki). One day, while on a different route, Jérôme has a chance encounter with Lily — only she does not recognize her own father. From this point on, Jérôme takes on a mission to reconnect with his daughter, hoping to make up for nine years of lost time.

While Jérôme may seem fully accustomed to the language and culture of Japan, he still remains somewhat alienated both socially and legally. Throughout the film, he is referred to as a gaijin—a Japanese term for a foreigner, which some argue carries pejorative connotations. His frustration toward the system that kept him away from his daughter slowly builds throughout the film, only finding release in the rare moments of subtle joy that Jérôme experiences. The film beautifully portrays this quiet euphoria, ultimately contributing to the climax of Jérôme’s arc. 

Like Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” the film captures Tokyo through deglamorized, intimate moments, using the city’s subdued beauty to elevate its screenplay. In these quiet moments, seemingly mundane events accumulate, leading to a devastating, heartbreaking climax.

While the film maintains a consistently serviceable look and sound, its main strengths come from its lead performances — notably Duris and Judith Chemla — and how these performances carry the weight of the heavy script. The script is restrained, favoring sparse dialogue where every word lingers and resonates with the audience.

At its best, “A Missing Part” captures familial relations and the drama that comes with it so beautifully. However, condensing such a weighty story into a mere 90 minutes was ultimately a narrative choice that fell flat. Characters like Jessica (played by Chemla) are glimpsed at but never fully explored, despite their clear influence on Jérôme’s decisions and overall character arc. The film seems to forget about these characters by the end, making their omission feel like a disservice. Ultimately, another hour of runtime would have given the film the space it needed to flesh out the rest of its characters and ideas, as well as close out on multiple plot points. While the pacing is nearly perfect, it does not have the runtime to match.

Despite its flaws, the film’s exploration of the quiet moments that define our relationships make it a powerful piece of storytelling. “A Missing Part” served as a fitting film to close out the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, as it encapsulates the event’s celebration of human connection and the quiet yet profound stories that cinema can tell. 

As this year’s festival comes to a close, the atmosphere was filled with a sense of accomplishment and an excitement for years to come, with the new opening of the SBIFF Film Center in time for the 41st annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.