Searching for an excellent B movie? Search no further than SEARCHING a social media sleuther that’s as contemporary as a Trump tweet
A missing person maybe murder mystery SEARCHING is about determined dad, David, and his search for his disappeared daughter, Margot with the help of sympathetic but no-nonsense Detective Vick.
SEARCHING is written by Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian and directed by Chaganty and focuses on the digital footprint rather than the physical fingerprint to solve the crime.
SEARCHING is as much about modern tools of communication as about the mystery itself, with social media, texts, emails, photos and video snippets, and internet search engines cleverly and seamlessly woven into the fabric of the narrative and mise en scene.
In telling the story, the film-makers use a screen-based language of storytelling that strives to depict the way we interact today and explores the reality of a modern parent/child connection in the Internet age. As David discovers, virtual identities are subjective constructs at best and he learns more about his daughter than he had ever known with every digital clue.
David and Margot’s relationship has been emotionally estranged since the death of their wife and mother. Margot has attempted to fill the void by developing friendships on line, an environment especially enticing to teenagers pushing boundaries and exploring their identities.
Of course there’s a dark side to the web, an ego-system murky with lurking menace. The question lies in who are they connecting to and who are they becoming? Friended by fiends and groomed for gruesome fates.
SEARCHING stars John Cho as David, the desperate dad cum digital detective dedicated to locating his delinquent daughter.
Aided and abetted by official police person, Detective Vick, played by Debra Messing, his diligence and doggedness and her foot slogging see audiences through a serpentine array of leads, misdirects and cyber red herrings until the startling reboot and backup plays out.
SEARCHING won the Audience Award at Sundance and is sure to be a crowd pleasing sleeper hit here.