VARIETY REVIEW

Hello again. Patty's still recovering from our 10 days in Park City. She caught some bug and has been laid up in bed. I think the anxiety and stress of the premiere finally caught up with her. Everything else is moving along smoothly. We need to build off the momentum of the award and the sold-out shows to continue to keep the interest high in the film. Recently, the entertainment trade publication "Variety" wrote a pretty decent article about the film. It's our first real review and it's a great start. Here it is...


VARIETY, JAN. 30, 2006


By JOE LEYDON


Winner of the Audience Award for docs at Slamdance 2006, "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story" looks, sounds and fascinates like an exceptional episode of a true-crime TV series. Helmers Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim skillfully use interviews, reportage and archival material -- and an absolute minimum of dramatic re-enactments -- to provide narrative momentum for their stranger-than-fiction scenario. Well-crafted pic could score in global tube markets.

Early scenes detail what appears to be a routine missing persons case: In 1977, 13-year-old Megumi Yokota disappears without a trace on her way home from school in Niigata, Japan. But the seemingly ordinary tragedy turns out to be part of an extraordinary conspiracy. As decades pass, journalists and government investigators discover Megumi and several other unfortunates were abducted by North Korean spies, who used their victims as role models while training agents to convincingly pose as Japanese citizens. Megumi's parents emerge as sympathetic figures as they join other families in pressuring Japanese officials to demand the return of their long-missing loved ones. But even as public outrage mounts, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi must balance the grief of individuals against the demands of realpolitik.