Buscando...

For all the people who ever tried (And failed) to make a compelling thriller about the internet, from "Unfriended" to "Megan Is Missing", I have news for you:

Someone finally did it.

"Searching" is quite possibly the first film I've seen that truly treats the internet as the entity it is without any silly exaggerations, fake websites, ignorance or judgement. Instead, this film treats it as a platform to tell a compelling mystery story with an excellent performance by John Cho and a quite honestly revolutionary sense of direction at its center.

"Searching" concerns itself primarily with the character of David Kim, played by John Cho (Of 'Harold & Kumar' fame), who's daughter goes missing suddenly and is only left with a trail of breadcrumbs that exist entirely on the internet. Whether it be social media, text logs or anything in-between, the film becomes a frantic search to find his missing daughter.

The film itself is an odd hybrid of the Found Footage genre and of an actual narrative film. What I mean by this is that we still see close ups, we still hear a musical score, and still see various camera tricks incorporated into the film, but our vantage point is limited only to a screen and what may appear on it. Because of this, the direction expertly resorts to showing many forms of multi-media to paint a story that a feature film could tell. From the film's wide-spanning opening (Which is oddly reminiscent of Pixar's "Up" in more ways than one) to every direction it goes beyond that, the film stays in its proverbial lane and uses its media and its story platform to tell a compelling story within its mean.

This execution, by first-time director Aneesh Chaganty, is done BRILLIANTLY. There is not a single moment where you do not buy what is occurring on-screen when it comes to the way these sites and media function (Aside from a few hiccups that I will get into later), and it truly shows an understanding of both the limits of this scope and of the media they used to tell this story. Crazy as it sounds, it is an incredible accomplishment seen here by Chaganty that the film remained comprehensible, well-directed, and ended up as the first film of its genre to ever incorporate social media properly.

Speaking of which, it is a delight that we do not get any fake websites in this film. What I mean by this is, there is no "sub-in" for Youtube or Facebook or anything of that like. Facebook is Facebook, Youtube is Youtube, Tumblr is Tumblr, etc etc. It is both a treat to those who look for authenticity in this concept that not only did the crew know what they were talking about, but also to see that they trusted audience to expect realism and no substitute. Fake social media sites in film is out, and incorporating the quite real social media sites around us is IN..and I couldn't be happier.

This could perhaps be enough for a downright experimental film to be considered serviceable, but what truly elevates this even further is John Cho's fantastic performance as a father at his wit's end fighting to find his daughter. Though we only get small bursts of the clear talent and commitment he has for this role, by the time the film was over even his own mouse cursor and movements depicted by his searching through the internet had its own injected 'character' to it.

Despite how well the film is executed, a few flaws do hold it back from being a masterpiece by a first-time director. The climax of the film and the conclusion we reach to the mystery itself is a bit fantastical and hard-to-buy for my tastes, though it hardly ruins the entire film structurally. In addition, Michelle La as the daughter character is not especially good in the scenes she is featured in, which was perhaps why the only scenes I never felt entirely invested were the ones where she was front-and-center. Considering this is her first feature film role, that's perhaps simply inexperience coming to the fore, but it still hurts the film when her scenes are sandwich between a fantastic performance by John Cho.

Along with these problems with story and performances, the minuscule details between the lines of the film's internet setting are a tad fuzzy. Namely things regarding the service YouChat and how it is presented, along with the tiniest nitpicks in presentation like the mouse cursor moving so buttery-smoothly it became hard to buy. In addition, my feelings toward the film having a background score are a tad mixed, though I grew to accept it as the film went on. Simply a matter of tastes.

All of that said, "Searching" is a quite masterfully done thriller with an execution that is truly a marvel to behold. Never has this genre of found footage been able to crack the concept of painting a thrilling film through the scope of a computer screen until now. With the internet seemingly 'cracked' by these writers and directors, however, this film ends up a first of its kind and quite the investing ride to take at the theatre.

I highly recommend you see this film and support something so indie and so unique. It's really unlike anything that's in theatres right now~

I was just utterly entertained and delighted by this film. Because it was just SO well done.

It's innovative cinematography was not presented at the sacrifice of a well-crafted and compelling story. Unlike the Blair Witch Project, these filmmakers put as much time and care into their story as they did with this method of filming. They could have honestly filmed this in the traditional way and it would have still been a worthwhile movie outing. This was indeed a solid work of art.

Even with so many moments absent of dialogue or even human characters to watch, the film was always forward moving. The suspense and mystery continuously builds until the very last moments.

There were so many twists and turns, they made it impossible to truly predict what was going on. At one point we predicted one thing that did unfold but we were almost immediately surprised by another new turn.

There was a story, there was substance, there was intrigue, there was heart. And there wasn't a thing presented in the film that did not contribute to the story.

They made my heart break and my heart leap. Made me hold my breath and exclaim with surprise. Made me smile...even made me reminisce a little (due to my particular age).

John Cho delivers yet another excellent performance. It was a refreshing role to see him play. He just broke my heart the whole film. I just wanted to reach out and hug him!

It was also extremely refreshing to see Debra Messing in this type of role. Nothing I'd EVER seen her do and she was just great.

Great cast, in general, tho very small, given the story was told so exclusively from the father's perspective.

I really could just go on and on about this movie that I had oddly never heard of...very undoubtedly a hidden gem in the theatres right now.

I 100% recommend taking a trip to the theatre for this one.

Rating 8.3/10 Excellent thriller film directed by Aneesh Chaganty and written by Chaganty & Sev Ohanian. The seriousness of a father trying to find his missing 16-Year-Old daughter with the help of a police eetective. This film will make you wonder what will happen for next plot. Excellent acting performance by John Cho. The moral of the story is do not trust to anyone, if not will be disappointing you. Worth to watch !!

This film got it right in the technology department. All real websites, technology and actual examples of how you can search the internet to find information. They had to get this right and as an avid tech enthusiastic i was pleased that they did.

The storyline was well written, had twists and turns that i did not expect. Decent movie!

I was not planning on watching this but I saw the high rating on imdb and considering how bad most movies with this gimmick are it peaked my interest that people actually like this one. I am very surprised at just how good this movie was. I went in with low expectations despite how well received it was but this movie really did it right.

First thing first, they managed to get the internet right, or atleast as right as you can expect a movie to get it. It featured mostly real websites and stayed within the limits of reality when it comes to his snooping around the internet for clues.

Secondly the pacing is pretty good too with a solid story that keeps you engaged and offers surprises throughout.

While not the best acted movie, the acting is certainly solid enough to get through the movie and they manage to make you care about the characters in a short amount of time.

Overall I'm pleasently surprised and the high rating is a combination of the solid story and that fact someone managed to finally pull off this concept correctly. It definitely earned a bonus point for its uniqueness and willingness to be something different.