'Searching' is a thriller about a father going in search of his missing adolescent daughter. Set in today's day and age, all the sleuthing occurs online, and the director (Aneesh Chaganty) extends this reliance on digital technology to the entire screenplay; telling the story entirely through computer screens, TV footage, hidden cameras and cellphone screens. The narrative is taut enough to engage the audience through the various twists and turns and to compensate for the loss of drama due to these self-imposed constraints on the storytelling.
The actors, David Cho, Michelle La, Sara Sohn and Debra Messing do a commendable job despite the limited scope for performance. Cho and Sohn are especially affecting as loving parents who are both distanced from their growing daughter in different ways. Unfortunately, the daughter's character is the least fleshed out, so while we do feel the father's worry, it's hard to understand her motivations as well, lowering the dramatic stakes a little.
The storytelling device is rarely used as a gimmick, which is the film's greatest strength. In fact, the first montage of events is a lovely ode to the passage of technology from Windows 98 to the OSes of today (films like these can now boast of IT rather than art design!) The visceral fear we feel as the missed calls pile up on the father's phone as he is sleeping is an all-too-familiar feeling. As a mere thriller or a simple parable, the film is fairly passable, but as a two-in-one it does merit a watch.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Language: English Runtime: 1h 42min Year of release: 2018 Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Hot take is a series in which I offer my first impressions of films from India and around the world.
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