Searching
5 stars
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Stars: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee
Duration: 102 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

Almost two decades ago The Blair Witch Project spawned the ‘found footage’ genre, in which what unfolds on screen is purported to have been captured by a video camera discovered at the scene of a crime or horrific event.

This premise evolved into the footage from home security cameras, à la the Paranormal Activity series. It was not a stretch to develop this concept further into the realm of the internet, with movies like the recent Unfriended, following a Skype conversation between a group of friends which goes horribly wrong…  

As Searching’s opening shots hone in on a Microsoft Windows interface circa the year 2000, it is clear what territory we are in. The cursor glides over the screen, uploading and filing numerous photos of the Kim family from daughter Margot’s birth and childhood, at school, at home and her piano lessons, before segueing into close-ups of e-mail correspondence and an online calendar detailing her mother Pam’s hospital appointment, lymphoma diagnosis, treatment, and, sadly, death.

We reach the present day, some time after Pam’s death, to watch a message exchange between her father David (John Cho) and now 16-year-old Margot (Michelle LA) as he rants at her for not taking out the garbage.

So far, so gimmicky, but the fact that screenwriter Aneesh Chaganty (who also directs) and Sev Ohanian have by now already effortlessly established the characters and piqued the viewers’ interest is a plus. It only gets better from then on.

After that mundane exchange over the garbage, things unfold terrifyingly. The next morning, David finds a number of missed calls from Margot – he notices she has already left for school, and tries calling and messaging her throughout the day, to no avail.

Will have viewers on the edge of their seat as it builds up to its completely nerve-wracking, nail-biting finale

When he contacts her piano teacher, only to be told that Margot quit piano lessons months ago, David is struck dumb. And, as the cold terror sets in that something may have happened to her, he also realises that she may have been keeping secrets from him.

He calls the police and finds a sympathetic yet hard-nosed ally in Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing). While the police go about their business tracing Margot’s physical movements, David gets into her laptop to trace her digital ones.

What unfolds is a tautly written, tension-filled modern thriller told exclusively via laptops, tablets and smartphones, as we see Margot’s life unfold via Facebook, podcasts, iMessage and so on while we witness the police’s progress in the investigation via online news portals that David visits for updates.

And it is not long before you forget the format in which the story is told, thanks to the compelling performances by Cho and Messing. That for the most part we see them communicating to one another on a screen matters not a jot. The emotions are raw – and Cho expertly captures the feelings of a distraught man who is beginning to question his parenting abilities as he gradually uncovers a portrait of a young woman he barely knows, while unable to come to terms with the potentially tragic outcome of the investigation.

That we learn much about Margot at the same time as he does only adds to the tension. When potential suspects begin to be named, David’s paranoia increases and he agonisingly reaches breaking point, we feel as helpless as he does.    

Messing, with nary a trace of her signature character in popular TV sitcom Will and Grace, is equally strong as the detective, also a single parent. She sympathises deeply with David but must rein him in, as he oversteps his boundaries threatening to derail the investigation.

Throughout all this, Chaganty and Ohanian make a strong and subtle case about the toxicity of social media as the line blurs between Margot’s real friends and those jumping on the bandwagon of the sensationalistic nature of the case, while whispers about David’s possible involvement get louder and louder.

It is certainly quite an eye-opener about the inherent dangers of the internet. Yet, it never forgets that what it ultimately is is an extremely well written and executed piece of cinema that will have viewers on the edge of their seat as it builds up to its completely nerve-wracking, nail-biting finale.