A ground-breaking and technological achievement

★★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★

Searching (2018)

Runtime: 102 minutes 

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for thematic content, some drug and sexual references, and for language.

David Kim (John Cho) searches and calls every of his daughter's Facebook friends, in hopes for some clues on her whereabouts.

Never did I know a movie, based completely on computer screens, video conferences, social media sites, and live broadcasting had such impact on me. Searching was unexpectedly chilling, resonating and wonderful. From first-time director Aneesh Chaganty and writer Sev Ohanian, Searching managed to depict how far a parent would go to protect or search their missing or trapped children (unlike Skyscraper), while exposing to us the harsh realities of the internet and fibsters who make fables to become popular.

Searching starts with a family based in San Jose, California. David Kim, Pamela Kim and their daughter Margot Kim create accounts in a computer to upload videos and pictures of their memories together, including milestones like Margot's first day of school or piano lessons. Eventually, Pamela Kim is diagnosed with lymphoma, and despite efforts to battle the disease, loses the battle. From here, David and Margot's relationship becomes increasingly distant. One night, Margot goes to a friend's house for her study-group. She calls David twice in the middle of the night, but David is unsuccessful in responding to her calls, as he has fallen asleep.

The next morning, strange things begin happening. David is unable to call Margot, the school has marked her as absent, and in hopes that she would be in piano lessons, learn from her piano instructor that she had canceled her lessons half a year ago. More truths uncover. Margot left her laptop behind, and has been pocketing lesson money and transferring $2,500 to a deleted Venmo account. David files a report to the police, and the case is assigned to Detective Rosemary Vick, who grills David for Margot's communication with her friends and personality. Alas, David makes a tough move: breaking into Margot's laptop and social networking accounts to access her contacts and uploads, realizing he may indeed know almost nothing about his daughter.

It is amazing how despite the whole movie takes place in point-of-view laptop of phones, the story doesn't meander and is very well-structured. Each scene adds more tension, mystery and suspense to the surroundings, and the viewer is hit by a surprise plot twist during the final twenty minutes. The film also utilizes the main actors John Cho and Debra Messing very well. They act with such believability it feels very realistic and adds up to the dire situation. John Cho had his moment when he falsely assumed and attacked his brother for abducting Margot. You can feel the pain and anger in his eyes, as well as his reaction after learning that the "weird" thing Margot and his brother did, which was smoking weed.

As Margot's disappearance becomes a trending topic across the internet, Searching shows another harsh reality of the internet. The person who hosted the study group and barely knew Margot was now sobbing and posing to be her best friend. Social media sites for discussion like Reddit are also infested with people who make up conspiracies - for example, David murdered his own daughter. Sites like YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook also shows how easily a person can be cyber-bullied and how much it affects their life. Other networking sites like Tumblr and YouCast were also mentioned, and these websites were where David collected the most information out of.

By the time the twist arrived, literal chills were spreading all over my body, even though the surroundings weren't cold. Searching successfully generated an emotion inside me, and I was blasted by the time the story unraveled, and how messed up the real situation was. However, the script could have put some supporting actors, especially Michelle La (who plays Margot Kim), into better use.

Nevertheless, I recommend you watching this film as soon as you get your hands on a Blu-Ray or online. This is a breakthrough in film-making.