SEARCHING
(Desk)top notch…
OUT 31 AUGUST
f or a while there it seemed films set on computer screens would be the preserve of hokey horrors about haunted Skype calls. Full credit to Aneesh Chaganty’s debut feature Searching, then, a missing person mystery with heart and smarts that gives a fledgling format its Blair Witch moment.
After an opening montage that rivals Up for emotional wallop, single dad David Kim (John Cho) discovers his daughter has disappeared, and turns amateur internet sleuth to find her, desperation driving every click as he uncovers a side of his daughter he never knew. But that’s only the start of a thrillingly twisty tale.
Often decried as ‘uncinematic’, Searching’s googling, Facebooking and FaceTiming immerses because it’s completely convincing, even down to the way the cursor moves. And it’s clear this was a film designed from the format up, with a meaningful message about the distancing effect of tools supposed to bring people together.
Occasionally the story strains against the bezels. The sight of a GPS arrow in place of a car chase proves anticlimactic at a key moment, and the move from monitors to live news coverage as the stakes escalate feels like a cop out. But Searching is an essential cinema experience, even if it won’t lose a thing on Netflix. Jordan Farley
the Verdict
Finally delivering on the format’s potential, Searching is the year’s most inventive thriller. You’ll be glued to the screens.