Searching

Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing, Sarah Sohn, Michelle La, Joseph Lee, Alex Jayne Go
Directed by: Aneesh Chaganty
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After his daughter (Michelle La) goes missing, a father (John Cho) desperately searches her online history for clues as to her whereabouts.

Review:

Tim: Man, Searching is a really good movie. It's a contemporary take on a missing persons case, told in the inventive and original style of the entire movie taking place on a laptop or in other computer-generated devices. The movie is thrilling, intelligent, and twisty enough to hold your attention from beginning to end. It really is a clever movie and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

At first, I wondered if the fact that the whole movie takes place in electronic devices would feel too gimmicky. For the most part, it doesn't. That's the film's biggest achievement- that it is able to tell an intense mystery story about a missing person- all basically on a laptop screen. Some of this is only possible because the whole world is virtually accessible from our laptops now (or smartphones). But still, it's a stunning achievement that you could tell such a winding, surprising story with a cast of this size in this format. It really shouldn't have worked, so give director Aneesh Chaganty massive amounts of credit for pulling this off. It really is stunning to reflect on the movie and realize that not a second of it was told in the conventional format. That remains the single biggest attraction of this unique movie.

Now, that isn't to say that this format is flawless. While it's incredibly well done, there are a few too many moments that aren't believable via this format. For example, no one keeps their laptop's webcam on when they aren't using it. That would be so creepy, yet John Cho's character does that continuously throughout the film. They needed to do that for the sake of the story, but it didn't make much sense logically. There's a number of these moments throughout the film when a normal person in this situation wouldn't be connected through any kind of technology. The hidden camera scene was a bit hard to believe. Fortunately, these are minimally disruptive, although they do hurt the film a bit.

The story itself is really good. There's been numerous abduction movies over the years, but this one felt fresh and different. Certainly, the reliance on technology to tell the story helps differentiate this film, but the story contributes to that as well. I really didn't know what was going on- the mystery of what happened to this girl is a worthwhile one. We're given enough possible clues and red herrings that it's really difficult to guess the truth. The story takes a few quite unexpected turns and I enjoyed the wild ride. This is certainly a film that will keep you guessing.

John Cho does a really good job. The movie is squarely focused on his character, so he gets nearly all the screen time. He was believable in the role. I'm not sure how the format of the film impacted his performance, but it had to have been challenging to act in this way. He's more than up for the challenge and succeeds in this unconventional performance. I liked the casting of Debra Messing. It wasn't an immediately logical choice for this passionate detective, but Messing played the role quite well. She had the same acting challenge that Cho did, and she also rises to that challenge. The rest of the supporting cast was solid, but this movie really is all about Cho.

Searching was a fun, unexpected film. It could easily have been a failure, but Chaganty utilizes this innovative approach to storytelling about as effectively as possible. It's even more impressive that this was Chaganty's feature film directorial debut. I can't wait to see what he does next. This is a movie that succeeds not just because of its original format, but in the content of the story and the characters we're introduced to as well. This was an entertaining, effective movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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