Searching is an example of a new kind of film genre emerging in today’s day and age: that which takes place in its majority through a computer interface. This includes FaceTime calls, texting, and other forms of video chat. The film centers around David Kim, played by John Cho, father to his daughter Margot. In the beginning of the movie, we see that the family is struck by tragedy as Kim’s wife, Margot’s mother, dies of cancer. So, in the very beginning, we already feel sympathy for Margot and her father. Then, Margot inadvertently goes missing one night several years later. The clock races down as Detective Rosemary Vick, played by Debra Messing, and David work hard to try and figure out Margot’s whereabouts and why she has gone missing. David does his part by looking through Margot’s laptop, which she had left behind, in order to dig up her history of friends and acquaintances via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. So essentially, David’s role is technological, while Detective Vick works and investigates on the outside.
The beginning of the film, which features the death of Margot’s mom, is truly tragic. We are introduced to the family through videos taken over the years from when Margot was a little girl until the day her mom died. In just this short few minutes, we as the audience get to see how close-knit the family is, and we feel heart-broken to see the mom die. The music playing in the background during this beginning segment was sad and melancholy, and this added to the emotion of the tragedy. Thus, we are now even more heartbroken when Margot goes missing as the father has already been through a lot with the death of his wife. Overall, the script was penned extremely well by Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian. There are plenty of twists and turns. One moment, it seems like Margot voluntarily ran away, and another, it seems like she was abducted. There are at least three to four huge twists throughout the film. When it looks like the movie is going in one direction, it pulls you completely in another, a full 360-degree turn. It’s like having repeated whiplash. And it worked very well! I could have no way in hell predicted the ultimate twist at the end. I have the utmost respect for Chaganty for co-writing and directing this film.
One thing that we come to learn throughout the story is that David really didn’t know his daughter Margot as well as he thought. He was under the impression that she had friends and was perfectly happy. This was not the case. Upon digging into her laptop history, it becomes evident that she was an unhappy teen with few friends. She also was posting videos (appropriate ones) of herself on this obscure website where she was talking to complete strangers as a way of venting her feelings. Thus, one of the major themes of the film is evident: parents don’t always know their children as well as they think. Another obvious theme is the monstrosity, danger, and grotesqueness of social media, for a couple of reasons. Number one, anyone can find and talk to you and even track you down using these platforms. Number two, people can use tragic situations to their advantage to gain popularity points. This becomes evident when after Margot’s disappearance, lots of people claiming to be her friends start posting about how much they miss her, how close they were to her, and how much they want her back. It was all BULLSHIT. But, in real life, people will do things like this to gain popularity points. People were also posting stuff about David, and how it’s his own fault that his daughter went missing. The evil nature of social media is conveyed incredibly well in this film and serves its role as one of the overarching themes.
One final theme has to do with the closeness of family. A father, namely David, will do anything in his power to search for, find, and save his daughter. The strong bond between mother and son is also conveyed, but this will become more apparent by the film’s end. While several films have tried the whole technology approach, this one actually pulls it off really well. The majority of the film is seen through computer screen calls and cams, and while this may sound off-putting, it’s actually done wonderfully. The camera angles are great and the quality is top-notch. Not too much shaking or anything like that. I was impressed with the overall quality of the cinematography and I give the utmost credit to Juan Sebastian Baron for his work in this department. As mentioned before, I also have to give credit to Torin Borrowdale for the music selection, as the music does a wonderful job backdropping the tensions unfolding and encapsulating the emotions being felt by the main protagonists.
The acting was incredible. John Cho is the main protagonist, and his performance is top-notch. I’ve never seen him act in anything before, but I was thoroughly impressed. His emotions seemed sincere and unforced. He played off the role of a distraught father very well. His attitude of despair, but unwavering determination in trying to find his daughter brought life to the film. Debra Messing also played Detective Vick, the second protagonist, well. She seemed emotionally scarred by the case as well and seemed determined to help David find his daughter by any means possible. The thing that really kept this film alive for me besides the acting was the pure interest I felt in watching David dig through his daughter’s history on her laptop. It was almost like taking a course on Margot, learning all about her.
Overall, I have no qualms about this film. It is well-acted, well-written, well-shot, and well-directed. It is purely edge-of-your-seat tension and suspense. Your mind will be racing trying to figure things out until the mind-boggling shock of a conclusion. Highly recommend this film!
OVERALL: 5/5, A
No comments:
Post a Comment