Searching

In a world where we are more and more tech savvy, the societal outcome of that is that Hollywood will produce films that reflect this issue. We saw "Disconnect" in 2012 where bad things happen when we abuse the internet, so now we have "Searching" where a desperate father seeks to find his missing daughter via her laptop. I suspect we will see more of these films in the not too distant future.

 

After David Kim (John Cho)'s 16-year-old daughter, Margot (Michelle La) goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective, Vick (Debra Messing) is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace Margot's digital footprints before she disappears forever. Between David and Detective Vick, will Margot be found or will the search do them in?

 

Others to round out the cast are Joseph Lee as Peter Kim, David's brother, Connor McRaith as Isaac, Dominic Hoffman as Michael Porter, Erica Jenkins as Hannah, Briana McLean as Abigail, John Macey as Mr. Lee, Ric Sarabia as Randy Cortoff and Gage Biltoft as John Watson.

 

This was chillingly directed with an eerie edge by Aveesh Chaganty (5 shorts). This was an original film in that the way that David had to evolve as he  found out more information about his daughter, Margot was executed in an extremely realistic approach. This is a new filmmaker and with this film under his belt, his future is bright. In fact, he has "Run" in pre-production at this time. This was interestingly written by Chaganty (5 shorts) and Sev Ohanian ("My Big Fat Armenian Family" '08). Considering how new both of these writers are to the feature film realm, it is completely surprising to see a screenplay this concise, cohesive and fluid. What makes this intriguing is that as the plot evolves, it becomes altogether clear how much David really didn't know her daughter as much as he thought. Most parents know their kids, but David kept running into roadblocks of who is his daughter? Another aspect of the film is that it was completely shot on the social network or some other technology. I believe this was done to showcase the chilling aspects of the plot that much more. Couple this format with the virtual photography with the cutting edge editing and this storyline was without equal. With this creative script, I'll be waiting to see what these writers do with "Run" in pre-production.

 

This might seem like an ordinary way to make a film if you're a millennial--they were born with I-Pods attached to their hips, but for the rest of us, this is an extremely unique format in which to make a film. I guess the rest of us baby boomers will just have to wake up so we can welcome in the 21st century.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                              Rated: PG-13                                 102mins.