Searching movie review

I watched this movie three weeks ago before Addis decided to shut down the whole country internet and my world collapsed following a family tragedy. Therefore, I would like to apologise in advance if I missed crucial details. While looking for another movie, I came across ‘Searching’, so I decided to check the trailer. I read the comments and they all agreed ‘best movie ever’. First, I thought they were just being dramatic and overly excited about a movie but after watching this high quality digital masterpiece, I have to agree.

 

The mystery thriller starts with David, the dad, on a video call with his daughter Margot. She tells him she is in a study group meeting and that she is okay. The next morning, she is nowhere to be found. My first suspicion was the dad; I started wondering because I always think there is a underlying reason behind American productions being led by Asians or any other ethnicity. I assumed the dad killed the daughter because of some financial trouble or if I can even go further, incest. I am sorry but it’s very common in Asian culture. Whenever I think about a story surrounding Asians I picture them about to lose a restaurant and they decide to take critical measures. Then again, I realised that Obama started this whole thing of TV being more inclusive so I had to erase all my suspicions fuelled by stereotypes.

 

John Cho is a known actor, I have watched a few of his movies and I can never tell his age. The girl is also familiar but I can’t remember where I have seen her sad face before. Confused by her disappearence, he starts calling her ‘friends’ and at some instance one of them tells him that she had plans to go camping or something like that, and he had to pretend he knew about it. From that scene, you can tell that even though they live in the same roof, he is a distant dad and doesn’t pay much attention to her. They also mention that the mother passed away and it is obvious that it took a toll on their relationship.

 

After different calls and gathering of information, we conclude that the girl was a loner and didn’t have much friends. At some point you start suspecting the dad again because she sent money to some account, which makes us believe that the girl ran away. So my prejudice mind starts elaborating a whole Asian mafia story again.

 

He finally decides to log into her email/phone account. That scene was actually ambiguous because in the first seconds it doesn’t show who is trying to retrieve her password, and you immediately conclude that we are going to see her abductor’s face but no, it’s the dad! He goes through her every social media and learns that his daughter was depressed.

 

Bear in mind that the whole movie revolved around internet and social media. The father was at home the whole time, and took us through everything through a ‘sharing screen’ adventure on his phone and his daughter’s computer. Watching him navigating through her social media, it was actually impressive; and how they made it versatile - showing texts, emails, video calls, videos (of David going to threaten some guy spoiler!), etc. And it never got bored, they would constantly use different platforms and angles to gives us the best streaming experience.

 

I always thought that a few actors and settings meant ‘low budget’ and I used to avoid those movies because I assumed producers were lazy or in a rush. This one even thought there were not a lot of scenarios, I think they really invested on the quality of the production.

 

The movie took us outside the Kim’s family house when they found her car. While at the presumed crime scene, the media gets involved and they interview David. In that moment he didn’t look like the desperate dad that we met 30 minutes ago, he even smiled. It reminded me of Scott Petterson and Christ Watts, both accused of murdering their wives and kids and when the media approached them they looked like they were part of a celebrity interview. But you can tell that David is struggling with the situation and doesn’t know what to say to the cameras.

 

Anyways, when the police got involved, the lady in charge tells him to back off because he is muddling the investigation. I thought that was bull because what David was able to uncover through social media, I don’t think any father would. Still, he doesn’t stop searching her phone and finds messages that she exchanged with her uncle – his brother, hinting to a romantic relationship between the two. I swear I didn’t see this coming! But I did wonder what was the purpose of David’s brother character in the plot. Every ambush, twist or clue was well planted; it wasn’t like it was too believable or too made up. He gets physical with his brother and he confirms that Margot was depressed and would occasionally take weed to ease the pain.

 

Wait! Let’s go back a bit…many hours passed since her disappearance and everyone starts assuming the worst. All her ‘alleged’ friends’ that initially claimed they were not close to her start posting online, claiming ‘she was my bestfriend’. This literally showed the hypocrisy of social media, and how people use everything to get attention.

 

Back to the scene where the uncle reveals that she was consuming weed… right after, David gets a call saying that they found her murderer. And once again to keep the plot harmonized, the killer joined the social media mania and records himself confessing to the crime. It was too easy! That’s the only part that it wasn’t believable!

 

David is distraught but decides to upload photos of his daughter, while doing it he notices a website's stock photograph that features the same picture of one of his daughter’s social media friend, which was someone he was initially suspicious of but the police dismissed it. Then, it is revealed that the lady in charge of the investigation volunteered to take the case and she never contacted that woman because in reality, her son was the one guilty of whatever happened to Margot.

 

You really need to watch this tech movie in slow motion and pause several times to get it, it’s too many things happening at once, like you have several opened tabs on your laptop. A young man was using a fake profile to get closer to Margot. He created a whole fake story line, saying he was a ‘working-class girl whose mother was in the hospital’ so he could bond with Margot since her mother passed away. Margot decides to send him money to help her with her mother hospital bills. Then, he (she) regrets lying to her and decides to give her the money back.

 

He goes to the lake where she usually smokes marijuana (he was probably stalking her) and tries to talk to her. Scared by a random and awkward stranger trying to get close to her, she rans and the kid accidently pushes her in the deep ravine. He tells his mother, which happens to be a police offer who later takes charge of the case. She decided to manipulate the whole thing, hence, finding someone to take the fall.

 

While she is being transported into custody, the screen only shows to you the cars moving and then the cars stop and take another turn, which is my favourite part of the movie - that adrenaline, anxiety and hope that Margot is still alive. After she confessed that Margot's body is in the ravine, David tells the police to turn the car around, pointing out that a storm occurred on the third day of the search, which would have provided Margot with enough water to live, if she survived the fall.

 

Margot was found alive.