Have You Seen Andy? (2007)

Review

Have You Seen Andy? is a heartfelt documentary from the outskirts of Boston where amateur filmmaker Melanie Perkins embarks on a private investigation with camera in hand to find out what happened to her childhood friend Andy Puglisi who disappeared at 9 from the local public swimming pool back in August 1976. The film suffers from a somewhat peregrine direction and at times more determination than quality, but there is power in Perkins' devotion into both case and film. The picture is made over a period of almost 10 years, and the filmmaker shows the development of how child disappearance cases are viewed in society over the course of the thirty plus years, and compares this to the fact that what is being done from the public departments has improved very little. Have You Seen Andy? is a documentary with a lot of emotion (at times a little too much, such as in the church service towards the end) and some disheartening truths about human existence. Additionally, it is a suspenseful crime documentary, with alas no solution.