(#6) Searching (2018) - [8.5/10]

A father searches for his missing daughter through her digital footprints.

David Kim becomes desperate when his 16-year-old daughter Margot disappears and an immediate police investigation leads nowhere. He soon decides to search the one place that no one else has -- Margot's laptop. Hoping to trace her digital footprints, David contacts her friends and looks at photos and videos for any possible clues to her whereabouts.

How would I describe this film in one word?

Gripping.

Note Absolutely brilliant!! The double exclamation marks are well deserved. 27 year old Aneesh Chaganty does an incredible job with the direction of this film, who I recently learned is of Indian decent which makes me more proud of him on a personal note.

Review

This film comes under the found-footage film category. If you don't know what that is, it's the train-wrecks of films like Paranormal Activity, Into the Storm, Project Almanac, Chronicle and Cloverfield. Okay the last two aren't too bad but I generally dislike this genre because the shaky camera feels are extremely annoying and it even feels unrealistic how the camera can stay on for so long and all. I didn't really expect anything much going into this film. To be honest, I was just really intrigued by the poster and the synopsis. Few minutes into the movie I had finally come to the conclusion that it was that sort of film and started to get extremely anxious about it. Funny thing was when I started the movie I really wanted to use the restroom so I thought I'd pause it at the 5 minute mark or something but man! I couldn't. It was just so engaging. So interesting. So intense. So gripping. And by the end - the final 15 to 20 minutes - you won't be able to breathe. In the beginning, we the viewers are presented with nothing about the daughter as her social media is private. But this movie brilliantly encapsulates the power of social media, the internet and technology as a whole. Our beloved protagonist literally solves the entire crime 'virtually' through the computer. And choosing to shoot the film by the found footage method just empowers that statement.

There's a powerful piece of social commentary that I found to be a very real expression of the social media system: as the father attempts to gather information get daughter's friends, he finds out that none of them were very close to her. Later on in this movie, after the daughter's disappearance becomes viral and trending, those people begin to take to social media to express their sadness and turmoil of her loss - all for the likes of course.

It doesn't just grip you story wise, which is brilliant of course but you get so emotionally attached to the character, the father and the daughter. You get worried with them. Jon Cho delivers an exceptional performance. You would probably even shed a tear by the very end after all the numerous plot twists. One of the best movies of the year without a doubt and one of the best thrillers I've seen (hopefully that's not jumping the gun).

RATING: 8.5/10

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Director: Aneesh Chaganty Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 1 hr 42 min Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee