‘Searching’ finds success with risky format

Aneesh Chaganty’s innovative thriller is framed in electronic gadgets

The key to successfully pulling off a flashy film technique is to not make it seem like a gimmick.

That 3D spear thrown at you from the big screen should make a point, not just make you jump out of your seat. The one loooong dramatic take? It should be warranted, not deployed as a crutch for a bored filmmaker.

“Searching,” the dynamite feature debut from former San Jose’s Aneesh Chaganty, takes an even bigger risk. The Hitchcockian thriller is framed entirely on electronic screens: Laptops, cellphones, security cameras.

That the ploy works so seamlessly and never grows tiresome is a credit to the inspired storytelling and tech savviness of the filmmakers and writers. They never make it seem forced. The result is one of the best, most innovative thrillers of 2018 so far.

The plot is simple. A desperate San Jose father, David Kim (John Cho), jumps into the search for his missing 16-year-old daughter, Margot (Michelle La), who vanished after supposedly studying with friends. He hacks into her Instagram, Facebook and iPhone accounts to sort out clues. While scouring the real and false leads, he discovers more about her than he ever knew. And everything we see is on the kind of screen that is visualizing David’s frantic search.

It’s a setup for these modern times as Chaganty and co-writer/producer Sev Ohanian shrewdly use the technique to mirror the film’s central theme: Social media is a double-edged sword, an opportunity to express ourselves and also a chance to hide our true selves from others.

The hardest challenge is making images of an actor staring into a screen interesting enough to keep us hooked. Chaganty gets around that cinematic inertia with quick edits and an intimate and emotional opening segment that puts the soul in “Searching’s” engine and makes us care.

In a sequence reminiscent of the beautiful first moments of Pixar’s “Up,” Chaganty and Ohanian whisk us through a series of photos, videos and memories of the Kim family. We see glimpses of joyous times between husband David and wife Pamela (Sara Sohn) and on the birth and piano recitals of growing older daughter Margot. Ultimately, we arrive at the tragedy that defines the family now. It’s artistically done, without overtly tugging on heartstrings.

David joins forces with Detective Vick (Debra Messing of TV’s “Will & Grace”), and the two root around together. Also providing David with support is his weedloving brother (Joseph Lee). The search that ensues involves trying to pinpoint Margot’s possible locations in the South Bay.

Naturally, there are red herrings galore, each delivered with an Agatha Christie-like zeal and all helping ratchet up tension in a thriller refreshingly devoid of bloodshed.

The strong cast contributes in creating this sense of jangly, nerve-wracking tension. The clear standout is Cho (“Star Trek,” the “Harold and Kumar” movies). His performance is elegant, modulated and convincing, never overplaying the theatrics of the character’s plight.

While a movie that relies on computer screens to tell its story has been done previously, in the effective 2015 horror film “Unfriended,” “Searching” boldly takes the concept further and succeeds because there’s a clear understanding of and respect for the essentials of good storytelling: Fully developed characters, a strong narrative and a sense of purpose. “Searching” delivers on all counts, and that — not the gimmick — is what makes it one of the best thrillers of the year so far.