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Searching, 2018
David (John Cho) is alarmed when he cannot get hold of his teenage daughter, Margot (Michelle La), who was supposed to have been attending an all-nighter study session. When it's revealed that Margot left the study session the evening before, David begins a frantic search for her with the assistance of Detective Vick (Debra Messing). Taking place almost entirely within the screen of the family computer, we watch as David follows any lead he can to solve the mystery of his daughter's whereabouts.
This was a fun, compelling thriller anchored by a really solid performance from Cho in the lead role.
The decision to put all the action in the screen of the computer lends mixed results, in my opinion. On one hand, it successfully shows the way that our lives are so entwined with technology and the internet. As David goes hunting for his daughter, through Facebook, a streaming site, Tumblr, and other sites, we see a pretty good representation of the multiple selves that we are online. Margot has a different persona for each piece of her online life, and watching David unravel them is compelling.
There are also some very well-observed little moments, like disconnection we see between Margot and her peers. She has no followers on Twitter. Her live streams get a paltry handful of views. There is a sadness and a distance to her online self. The film also captures the way that the internet can be a very judgmental and cruel place. When Margot's story goes public, some of the online comments are intrusive at best and cruel at worst. I have an acquaintance whose child went missing this last year. Thankfully they found her after a few hours. But there were people who were quick to say that the parents should be in jail, their child should be taken away, that they obviously didn't care about their child's wellbeing, that they were criminally negligent, etc.
On the downside, at many points it feels a bit contrived that, for example, David places all of his calls through his computer? David is also able to, with a single google search, land perfectly on whatever site he's looking for. Yeah right. Try googling even a semi-common name and the word "social media" and you are not being taken straight to their Facebook page. It also means that some sequences have to be really outlandish to make them still take place on a screen. We get things like a live stream of the police finding evidence, and that just wouldn't happen.
I was also a bit put off by the way that certain clues are contrived to be hidden until the right moment. There's one thing that pops up over and over and it's simply unbelievable that no one would think to investigate it. I also found it incredibly strange that with a sad, lonely teenager who has gone missing, they never even discuss the possibility of self-harm.
Overall I enjoyed this film!
Searching, 2018
David (John Cho) is alarmed when he cannot get hold of his teenage daughter, Margot (Michelle La), who was supposed to have been attending an all-nighter study session. When it's revealed that Margot left the study session the evening before, David begins a frantic search for her with the assistance of Detective Vick (Debra Messing). Taking place almost entirely within the screen of the family computer, we watch as David follows any lead he can to solve the mystery of his daughter's whereabouts.
This was a fun, compelling thriller anchored by a really solid performance from Cho in the lead role.
The decision to put all the action in the screen of the computer lends mixed results, in my opinion. On one hand, it successfully shows the way that our lives are so entwined with technology and the internet. As David goes hunting for his daughter, through Facebook, a streaming site, Tumblr, and other sites, we see a pretty good representation of the multiple selves that we are online. Margot has a different persona for each piece of her online life, and watching David unravel them is compelling.
There are also some very well-observed little moments, like disconnection we see between Margot and her peers. She has no followers on Twitter. Her live streams get a paltry handful of views. There is a sadness and a distance to her online self. The film also captures the way that the internet can be a very judgmental and cruel place. When Margot's story goes public, some of the online comments are intrusive at best and cruel at worst. I have an acquaintance whose child went missing this last year. Thankfully they found her after a few hours. But there were people who were quick to say that the parents should be in jail, their child should be taken away, that they obviously didn't care about their child's wellbeing, that they were criminally negligent, etc.
On the downside, at many points it feels a bit contrived that, for example, David places all of his calls through his computer? David is also able to, with a single google search, land perfectly on whatever site he's looking for. Yeah right. Try googling even a semi-common name and the word "social media" and you are not being taken straight to their Facebook page. It also means that some sequences have to be really outlandish to make them still take place on a screen. We get things like a live stream of the police finding evidence, and that just wouldn't happen.
I was also a bit put off by the way that certain clues are contrived to be hidden until the right moment. There's one thing that pops up over and over and it's simply unbelievable that no one would think to investigate it. I also found it incredibly strange that with a sad, lonely teenager who has gone missing, they never even discuss the possibility of self-harm.
Overall I enjoyed this film!