Searching - Review

Searching

Actor John Cho, formerly of the “Harold and Kumar” comedy films as well as the Star trek reboot feature films as Lt. Sulu, stars in a family drama called “Searching” which encapsulates one of the worst nightmares for any parent to have to endure ….their teenage child has gone missing.

Early on we see the father “Kim” (Cho) coping with the sudden loss of his wife. He now is earnestly trying to manage being both a good parent to his daughter “Margot” (Michelle La) and also fill in the managerial void that his wife took on regarding “Margot’s” after school social activities and private lessons .

Fast asleep and after missing several late night calls from "Margot" one night from her work study sleep over, "Kim” wakes up the next morning to see his daughter left her computer lap top she uses for school on the kitchen counter. When he calls her repeatedly during the day he worriedly realizes he cannot connect with her per usual nor have any of her friends can account for her whereabouts either. Now realizing something could be terribly wrong, “Kim” contacts the local police via the way of a Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing). She begins an aggressive investigation, but two days later and without a single lead, David decides to start searching 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 his daughter's digital footprints before she possibly disappears forever.

PLOT: For “Searching” the real star of the film is not the actors but the amazing way the Director Aneesh Chaganty intertwines a very compelling story by using various readily available multifaceted technologies and social media platforms to tell this thrilling “who done up story”. Its slick and yet user friendly. It’s taut and yet not overly complicated. It’s clever but never conceited or pretentious. Very suspenseful and yet not overly threatening to the senses. Overall all it’s a well-crafted film that has just the right amount of twist and turns to make the whole 1: 40 minute film very, very entertaining to watch.

Now, “Searching” is not without its flaws. For one, it occasionally has a story line that at times tries to have you think that you are building up to something rather dramatic only to let the air rather pedestrianly. You also get the sense after midway that the film is trying to convince you one single reason for the daughter’s being missing and yet keeps dangling out the possibility that all that’s seems to be is not all what it appears to be. In other words you kind of sense you’re being taken down a bit of a “rabbit hole” deliberately, albeit a pleasant and smart hole at that.  In the end you are only left to wonder will the enjoyable experience of this film you feel thus far will transition into a well-structured finale that is plausible in the end.

Finally, it pains me to talk about someone who has trained professionally as actor, but Debra Messing is not very good. You can almost see her thinking – trying to remember her lines in her head before she speaks. And while she was not horrible, I could imagine a wide range of other actresses who could have at least sold her character’s key role with a lot more vitality and believability than she did.

In the end, I highly recommend this film, not so much for the performances but for the fresh, imaginative, psychological thrilling and unique roller coaster ride I am certain you will enjoy as well. Watching and observing how today’s technology and social media are both uniquely intricate parts of every daily lives for more than anyone could ever imagine.

3.50 Stars