User reviews

I stumbled upon 'Lost Girls' tonight on Netflix and thought it looked interesting so decided to give it a look. I wasn't aware of the story behind it and I wasn't aware that it was based on true events. The main thing you'll notice when watching this movie is that is has an agenda, and it pushes it very heavily - and I liked that because it was personal. When a film just picks an agenda and decides to shove it in your face, that's garbage. But that isn't what happened here. This movie has a reason to be anti-police based on the real-life happenings and it wants people to know that. I think it found a good balance between getting its point across and also making sure it didn't consume the movie.

If you asked people to list all the Oscar nominated actresses who appeared in 'The Office' I think a lot would forget to put Amy Ryan on their list. She is though and 'Lost Girls' is further proof that when she is given the material to work with she can act her backside off. Her performance means a lot to this movie because she is the driving force behind almost every scene. If she wasn't able to pull it off the movie would fail, simple as that. She is terrific.

If you don't know anything about the real-life events this is based on then this film works very well as a mystery-drama. If you do know about them then I would suggest you're still going to enjoy this film, just in a different way. Don't come in expecting action scenes and over-the-top drama thrown in for the sake of it. This is a low-key, understated film that just goes about its business and does so wonderfully well. I had a great time with this movie and I suggest you will too.

This is the first review I have ever written because this movie deserved more credit than it was given. It was not perfect and some of the acting was clunky, while others were exceptional. You really feel the mothers energy throughout and can grasp the love that truly was there despite all of their familial shortcomings.

I am not sure how true this story was , but I hope the police were not this inept. I couldn't be sure if it was just over the top writing or not.

Overall, this was a good watch. Suspenseful with a decent enough cast.

Since I watch a lot of murder mysteries this popped up on Netflix. Once it started I realized is was about the murders on Long Island. I knew a little, but nothing about the families involved.

The film does an excellent job of drawing you into the life of the mother who wouldn't settle for police indifference. There were details and an ending I never knew that adds to the heart break.

Lost Girls: Based on the Long Island serial killings. The story centres around Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) mother of missing Sex Worker Shannan. Mari's relentless campaign forced the police chief (Gabriel Byrne) to conduct a search for her daughter and to seek the serial killer(s) responsible for killing up to 16 women. Best acting plaudits though go to Thomasin McKenzie as Sheree Gilbert. Reed Birney is suitably creepy as a suspect. Terrible incompetence and dereliction of duty by the police is revealed. Directed by Liz Garbus. 7/10. On Netflix.

Acting is overall good. Photo is good. But to tell this whole story in 1h 30mins is impossible. And that affects the outcome. It results in not getting to know the characters, there are gaps in the story and overall it is shallow. They could have done so much more with this (sad) story so it could have been developed into a mini series maybe. I would have liked more focus on the investigation. More focus on the characters living in Oak Beach. More on the daughters relation to their mother. And so on. Intent is good but it doesn't reach whole way through.

It's 2010. Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) is a struggling single mom in Ellenville, New York. Her youngest Sarra has issues. Her oldest Shannan goes missing. She takes her daughters, Sarra and Sherre (Thomasin McKenzie), to Long Island where Shannan was last seen. Police detective Dean Bostick (Dean Winters) dismisses her due to Shannan being a prostitute. Then a police dog stumbles upon the bodies of four dead prostitutes. Police commissioner Richard Dormer (Gabriel Byrne) takes over the investigation. Mari grows frustrated and decides to take on the entire closed-off community.

I hate to do this to a true story movie but it doesn't have a satisfying ending. As it stands, I need a re-enactment of that night and Shannan's final moments. I need to know who 'they' are. I need a lot of things that is missing in the real life story. I can't blame the movie for not showing things that are unknown in real life. I can blame it for not knowing the best ending of this movie. The best ending must be Mari's murder by her daughter Sarra. This is not Shannan's movie. This is Mari's movie and Amy Ryan's great performance proves it time and again. She electrifies this movie. She is the heart and soul of this movie. This is Mari's movie and it ends when she ends.

A very important story but it should have been a documentary not a feature film.

Based on true events, Lost Girls (2020) touches on the wider story of the Long island serial killer, who, to date has not been identified.

As a film it was very good, and anyone with any empathy for others will be drawn into the mothers desperate search to find her daughter.

For myself, the most poignant part of the film was the end. The incredibly selfish act of taking someone's life for your own 'pleasure', or self protection, is beyond the lowest of the low, but the domino effect such a cowardly and moronic act has upon that person's family makes it even worse, and this is very much the case for Mari Gilbert (the mother of Shannan).

Recommended for those who enjoy films based on true events, true crime and mystery.

This is based on a truly tragic story, however I found this movie incredibly boring. What could have been an interesting & poignant opportunity was reduced to a collection of midday moviesque cliches. There are some really fine actors in this including Gabriel Byrne & Miriam Shor, but even their performances are flat. Every character is either one dimensional, unlikable or flat. A real waste.

The show drags out a bit. Characters are difficult to like, but the mom does a good job portraying a desperate mother with baggage. I don't understand the daughter's talking at all. Is it an accent. I hated every scene she was in.

Overall, good premise. Just fell short of being good.

A little bit too rushed and too indy for the topic in hand. Could have been a limited series when you concider the true nature of events and that more than one family was affected. A missed opportunity and not up to the quality i expect from Netflix

Well the beginning was very nice and involving but then it became bland and something like cheap copy of masterpiece - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". The fact that "Lost girls" film based on some parts of true events supposed to be emotional but the problem was that characters didn't show it. It was lack of emotions.

Despite a super interesting premise and a good performance from most of the main leads, this movies doesn't really deliver much. The plot focuses too much on certain episodes and doesn't give the viewer the whole picture of the events.

I heard about this movie after the recent arrest of Rex Heuermann. Personally I believe there is more then one killer. In this movie Shannon calls the police (of which they didn't respond for over an hour) and in the recording she says "they're trying to kill me". Serial killer means one person is the perpetrator. Serial killers is plural and I don't think for one second if any person called the police in hysterics and say "they" that it doesn't mean there wasn't more than one person she feared her life for.

Such a tragic story overall for this family.

I thought it was well made as, at the time it was made, there was no person being investigated despite the number of murders in the back yards of this so-called gated community.

I'd like to think the mother was able to bring down wrath on Rex Heuermann as she desperately wanted to know who killed her daughter.

No one should ever overlook the inability of local yocal police. I live in a small community and I don't think they would ever be able to handle a case of this magnitude of murders. I would hope they'd have the common sense to call in a better agency (not necessarily the FBI as they're sure showing their true biased colors as of late) to assist in investigating and finding the perpetrator/s. Local police are good but their scope is very limited, especially in respect to budget cuts and them being the target themselves of persons driven by the media to hate.

I do recommend this movie.

It's just like almost every other Netflix's attempt to make a movie. It might have been a story worth telling but with such flat acting performances why should anyone care? Not one single character actually made me interested. What is it with Netflix, as soon as they move on from shows or documentaries and try to make a movie, it usually ends up being another flop.

A docudrama about young girls caught up in prostitution and murdered has enough drama of itself without any filmmaker having to massage the details for more drama. In Netflix's Lost Girls, experienced documentarian Liz Garbus directs an attention-grabbing docudrama set in 2010 among marshes of Long Island that includes a fierce mother looking for her sex-worker, Jersey City, Craigslist propositioning daughter.

Meanwhile, at least 4 bodies have been found, and the Suffolk County police are scrambling. The serial killer mystery is afoot based on a true story.

It's unknown from the start who the murderer is, freeing Garbus to shift focus into the harrowing effect the losses have on the families and friends of the girls. Blue-collar Mari (Amy Ryan) has three daughters, one of whom, Shannan, has been missing in the vicinity of the burials. Mari is a bedraggled waitress in Ellenville tirelessly goading police to do more to find her while her story as a troubled single mother incrementally unfolds to bolster suspicions that her harried life is a contributor to Shannon's unbalanced life.

Besides the drama of finding bodies under constantly overcast skies and learning more about Shannon's last day, Garbus gives us suspicions about a possible murderer, Dr. Peter Hackett (Reed Birney). Living in this area of the Island, he cryptically called Mari the day of the disappearance. Although one scene shows him acting strangely, no real proof emerges.

The lack of firm proof and the reluctance of the police to act aggressively give the story dramatic energy. Commissioner Robert Dormer (Gabriel Byrne) embodies our frustrations of not being able to piece together the evidence or stop the determined Mari to cause as much heat as possible to ramp up the search. As Mari becomes the hero that forces the police to search further, we become aware of how difficult it is to find the missing girl and determine who is the murderer.

To add to the depression of the movie's premise, scenes are largely gloomy, the town in decline, and the marshes forbidding and unforgiving. The police are slow to respond and jaded, but maybe understandably so given the naturally-slow evidence gathering and the pejorative "missing-prostitute" meme.

When we learn that Mari sent Shannan to foster homes because she couldn't handle her bipolarity, we learn that losing girls is a mosaic of bad decisions and downtrodden lives.

Police are complacent and parents flawed. Lost Girls will always be a mystery, regardless of who does the murdering.

Despite being based on a true story, the movie ultimately felt as if it had been poorly pieced together; some elements of the case were glossed over entirely, while others were mentioned in passing. This, coupled with underwhelming supporting acting, contrast a solid leading performance from Amy Ryan and a generally provoking premise. Ultimately, it felt as if the movie had all the right elements but failed to put them together effectively. Nonetheless, the story is worth sharing, as the families of all of those involved are still without many answers. I recommend this to any purveyor of true crime, while noting the film's shortcomings. 5.5/10.

This could have been a very good and moving film because of the plot itself. Unfortunately the story was translated very poor and boring into this film.

Excellent Netflix film based on real events, I don't say that very often. Dolby Vision and 4K has made viewing films like this a very realistic proposition which makes them more horrowing and thought provoking. Amy Ryan is magnificent as Mari a crusading mother trying to find out what happened to her estranged daughter Shannan, ably supported by her two daughters. Police only stumble across two bodies by mistake which takes her to a strange private community called Gilko Beach(The True Location). Gabriel Byrne plays Commissioner Dorman a cop whos at the twilight of his career, he forms a cat & dog relationship with Mari. Mari forms friendships with the mothers and daughters at a wake, where they try to seek justice. This won't be bettered this year for its realism and passion and superb acting. A Must See!

An interesting true unsolved crime, but a woefully uncompelling telling.