I
always find it exciting to see new and promising young filmmakers at work. Former Google creative talent and aspiring
director Aneesh Chaganty’s debut feature, ‘Searching,’ puts a fresh spin on the
familiar missing person tale with devastatingly effective results, giving the
audience a tightly plotted, twist-filled and riveting nail-biter tailor made
for water cooler conversation.
You
may have seen the trailer.
Korean-American actor John Cho (Harold) ditched Kumar to take on the role of an
anguished widower and father who desperately seeks his 16-year old daughter,
whom he thought he knew, when she didn't make it home after an AP Biology (she’s
Asian, big surprise) cram session at a friends' house in what could only be a
parent’s worst nightmare come true. At
its most basic level, ‘Searching’ is just another typical run-of-the-mill
missing persons thriller but it is so much more. What’s refreshingly different is that the
story is almost exclusively told through the POV of modern electronic devices like
computers and smart phones, as the tech-savvy Cho follows the bread crumbs of
his daughter’s digital trail through her social media networks using all the tools
and resources he can muster via the World Wide Web. Oh, did I mention with the
help of a detective played by Debra Messing from ‘Will & Grace’?
I
can’t praise this movie enough. 'Searching'
is a masterfully crafted thriller that won't let go once it grabs our attention
with its real-life, breaking news feel. While
it's gimmicky like all those other gimmicky "social media" movies (e.g.,
‘Unfriended,’ ‘Unfriended: Dark Web,’ ‘Friend Request,’ ‘Nerve’) it isn't
one-dimensional like those films, and it had so many twists and red herrings
that I didn't see the WTF! ending coming until it was too late, even though
looking back there were hints that I missed or ignored. Chaganty cited his fellow Indian M. Night
Shyamalan as an influence and inspiration, and I can certainly see that here.
Grade: A
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