Respond to these rapid questions in our Searching quiz and we will tell you which Searching character you are. Play it now.
Previously, we’d seen this gimmick: the high-wire act of filming a movie entirely within the confines of electronic devices, allowing us to feel as though we’re logging in with the characters and clicking and typing alongside them in real time. For example, the 2015 horror film “Unfriended” accomplished this feat in a lively, detailed, and ultimately grisly manner; prior to that, the 2014 Elijah Wood thriller “Open Windows” attempted this feat with less success.
If nothing else, structuring a film in this manner is impressive as an ambitious screenwriting exercise. Moreover, it provides filmmakers with the opportunity to embrace technology while also making a point about how it transfixes us and causes us to become zombies. When we experience this sensation, we can identify with these characters because they make the same kinds of decisions we would and multitask by having a variety of windows and websites open at the same time. For a brief moment, everyone should put down their phones or close their laptops and take a walk in the fresh air—or at the very least set their devices to airplane mode and turn off the ringer—for a brief moment in the fresh air.
When it comes to “Searching,” director Aneesh Chaganty and his co-writer Sev Ohanian stick to their central conceit in ways that are consistently clever, but ultimately veer off course a little. However, what distinguishes their film from others of a similar nature is its dramatic underpinning. The film “Searching,” which has a title that has a double meaning, follows a panicked father’s online movements as he attempts to locate his abducted teenage daughter. It aspires to and achieves genuine emotion rather than cheap thrills as its goal.
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The ever-versatile John Cho displays tremendous range as David Kim, a widower who is raising his 16-year-old daughter, Margot (Michelle La, who is appearing in her first major role), in a suburban San Jose, California, neighborhood. We follow David and his wife Pamela (Sara Sohn) as they raise their daughter Margot through a series of photos, videos, and calendar entries, which serves as a sort of high-tech version of the devastating, wordless opening of “Up.” (The fonts and graphics change as technology progresses and improves, which is a nice touch.) The passage of time, including Pamela’s cancer battle, is depicted smoothly and efficiently in “Searching.” The film deals with the tragedy of her death in a quiet and poignant manner.
Searching Quiz
Currently, David and Margot have hectic schedules between work and school, and they communicate primarily through text messages and FaceTime calls. However, one night, Margot, who is normally punctual, fails to return home after a study group session, which David does not realize until much later in the day. It is at this point that the complexities of the technology have such a significant impact: Every single one of his unanswered text messages is neatly arranged in a single long green column, as if to warn us that something is wrong. Margot’s last phone call to him in the middle of the night is clearly visible, as is the time stamp of the call. We can sense David’s anxiety increasing because ours is as well.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Searching quiz.
“Searching” takes a number of twists and turns from here on out as David contacts the police and a full-fledged effort to locate Margot is launched. There’s a lot you’re going to want to discover for yourself, so I’m not going to tell you too much more than you already know. But, time and time again, Chaganty and Ohanian find inventive ways to get into the laptop environment they’ve created, whether it’s David working backward to figure out Margot’s locked social media passwords or David creating a spreadsheet to interrogate Margot’s friends about where she’s been hiding. Throughout it all, he maintains his methodical demeanor, but his mounting anxiety is unavoidable. Since Cho spends a significant amount of time in medium shot or close-up with whatever he’s working on, there’s no place for him to hide. We are witness to everything his character is experiencing at the same time he is experiencing it. As if we’re snooping on him when he’s at his most vulnerable, it’s an unexpected sensation.
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The arrival of a determined Debra Messing in the role of the police detective investigating Margot’s disappearance changes the energy of the film, providing a ray of hope for the characters. (When she calls him for the first time, David instinctively searches for her character, Det. Rosemary Vick, on Google and Facebook in order to determine whether or not she is trustworthy.) However, the more information they uncover together, from Margot’s secret Tumblr posts to the last location where her car was seen, the more David realizes that he didn’t really know his only daughter. It’s a sad irony of modern technology that, while it is intended to bring people closer together, it can also serve to further divide them. Perhaps not the most original concept, but it is one that “Searching” explores in a clever and briskly paced manner.
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While David’s perspective is maintained throughout the film’s runtime, it introduces images and information that deviate from the premise that we are seeing everything from David’s point of view. There is an occurrence of narrative omniscience, which fills in some gaps, but it also results in a loss of tautness and focus. It is commendable that the filmmakers accurately depicted the geography of the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the microphone flags of the local television stations, which were live-blogging every development of the search effort. We’re invested in these well-drawn characters until the very end, and we’re interested in whether or not they’ll find their happy ending both online and in real life.
For more personality quizzes check this: Hostiles Quiz.
