Searching - Movie Review

Over 20 years ago The Blair Witch Project was released in theaters. It was the start of a new genre of horror called "Found Footage," in which the film is mostly or entirely consisting of video footage that has be uncovered or is being recorded live. Since then this technique has been used a lot, almost to the point of abuse, in films like the Paranormal Activity franchise and recently the Unfriended movies. It's a cheap a way to make movies, especially horror and its kind of lost its potency. But a few years ago a new film premiered that took found footage to a new level and when I saw it back then it blew me away. It was well shot, had excellent writing, and the feeling of tension and mystery was not ruined by lazy scare tactics. That film is Searching.

Searching revolves around a father, David Kim (John Cho) and his daughter, Margot Kim (Michelle La). One night, while she's off at a friend's house and he is asleep, she calls him three times, but he misses them. Next morning David doesn't find his daughter and assumes she at school. But very soon he realizes that she's disappeared and he begins to search for her through her social media accounts and her laptop. Very soon though he starts to discover that there might be something more with this disappearance and is now on a desperate quest as a father to discover the truth and find his daughter. As the story progresses the mystery grows and David starts to uncover a little conspiracy.

It sounds simple at first and not that interesting, but I was impressed back then, and now, over how well made this film is. Every single shot is either from a computer or smartphone. And I mean every shot. I'm not talking about webcam shots, I also mean browsing through websites, video recordings, news footage a webpage, and more. You can almost call this film "Social Media: The Movie" because it uses so much of the internet to build the story and the conflict throughout the film. Hell, when the film starts we see that old windows background of a clear sky and a grassy hill, along with the first Youtube layout because that part of the film takes place in 2008, in Youtube's early years. That's dedication to this concept. The director, Aneesh Chaganty, took a very simple and cheap direction for the film and used it to its fullest degree. For that alone I give this film a lot of respect. But I'm just just started guys.

The acting is very strong with Searching. John Cho was floored me as the lead character (I'll dive more into him specifically in a bit), Debra Messing was great as Detective Sergeant Rosemary Vick, and all the other actors felt very real. There were a lot of teens that David had to call in the investigation and they felt very real with unique, believable personalities and characters so them. The adults were also great, with even David having a brother who is obsessed with a certain sports team like a person. There's also a lot of extras in the film, from police teams to high school students to news people, they all just felt very in place and realistic for the story that was being portrayed.

Acting though doesn't have to be just see the characters perform dialogue or actions in front of you. Through the use of computers we can see the emotions of the characters through cursor movement and through typing. For instance, there's a very early scene where David tries to tell his daughter how much he cares for Margot and that his wife/ her mother would also be proud of her. He types it out and is about to click send, but he stops. There's a few seconds of pause, then he deletes it and sends a different message. From that we can tell that at least David is still having trouble getting over his wife passing away. It's a different form of communication through film that can show so much emotion, where you're looking at cursor, but it feels like you're looking directly at the actor's face. It's so beautiful.

For a film like this you have to be able to care about the family the film is focusing on. I'm a single man, have no children, no wife, no girlfriend, I have never experienced having children or raising them. But I could fully understand the growing worry and frustration that David has, as well as the emotions of the other actors. It is so clear the care that David has for his daughter. But there's also doubt and uncertainly that is shown with him as we and him learn more about Margot and what she has not told her father. It keeps us guessing what's really happening and seeing all these characters, especially David, becoming more and more involved in Margot's disappearance keeps raising the tension. I kept getting chills seeing David going further and further to find his daughter and I was so invested because the acting felt so real, like this was a real event that happened!

This leads me to the story and the writing. There's a lot tension and drama throughout the story. So many times I felt a chill up my spine because of how I so pulled into the movie. At certain points the story might confuse people as film continues on, especially close to the ending, but I think how its written is fantastic. This isn't a film where you can turn your brain off, its one with details that might not be seen at first. Sometimes it's a little muddled, but near the end things started to make sense for me. Small moments that appear to be nothing come back later on and me realizing some of these shows how smart the writing it! The last 20 minutes of story especially kept me on the edge of my seat, both back then in the theater and now in my home.

Another big plus this movie has is that it goes into social media very well. Not only did the people pay to use Google and Youtube and all the other big sites for this film, but the effects of social media of what it can bring on was excellently displayed and it wasn't gimmicky. For example, you're in high school and there's this one kid who you knew, but never really talked about or knew that well. Suddenly they commit suicide and then everyone is say, "Oh they were so sweet, I'm so sad that they're dead." Stuff like that, this hypocritical nature and sense of trying to look concerned when we don't really know these people or their problems and just want to be popular. Not many films have the guts to include a message like this and for a film that revolves around technology and internet it's a perfect inclusion for this movie. I do wish it was touched on just a little more, but what we got is still highly satisfying.

Searching is a film that deserves a lot more recognition than what it seems to have gotten. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I have barely heard anything about this film since it came out. Yes, it did get great reviews from critiques and made a lot of money for its budget, but I think should be also studied for how well made it was. Going through interviews and behind the scenes for this movie I discovered how passionate everyone involved was. The film was originally pitched as an 8-minute short, but the studio wanted to turn it into a feature length movie and seeing how everyone working on it was so excited and awestruck by what they were working on shows this film wasn't made for money, but to tell a story and deliver something unique. After how great this film was back then I was excited to see what Aneesh Chaganty would do next (which seems to be a film called Run that's coming out on November 20th of this year). But watching it now though, Searching has a left an even bigger impact because I see how much effort and love was put into it. Guys... watch this movie. Please.

Tentative Score: 9.25/10

Definitive Score: 9.25/10

All of this was done on a budget of $880,000 dollars. That's very small for a film budget. They didn't need CGI for this movie, just computers and phones and acting. Plus paying Google and other brands to show their products. Shows the power of raw talent.