Searching (2018) – Review

How much time do you spend behind a screen every day? If you had an app that would keep track, you might be shocked. We know the interfaces that we use in detail. Nevertheless, in many cases, films and series often choose to present us with an interface that is unfamiliar to us, even if it takes place in the present. A screen that has been specially designed for a film and should look sleek. As a result, as a viewer you have no strong connection with what you see. Searching is an exception. It is a film that takes place completely in operating systems that we know: Windows and Mac OS.

Searching belongs to the so-called “screen life” genre, where the viewer only sees what happens on a computer screen. You could see it as the extension of the “found footage” film.
David Kim (John Cho) is, after the death of his wife, a single father who is trying to raise his 16-year-old daughter Margot as well as he can. He Facetimes with and sends iMessages to her and tries to do nice things. When he suddenly can not reach her anymore, he slowly panics and eventually calls the police. Police Detective Vick (Debra Messing) is working with him on the case. David realizes that he does not know much about the life of his daughter and tries to find clues using her laptop that could help find out where his daughter is or what happened to her.

  Although a police investigation is underway, the film focuses primarily on the detective work of David, who is using his phone, a spreadsheet, Google, Facebook, Tumblr and other websites to discover more and more about his daughter. That certainly results in an exciting thriller for the beginning and the middle part of the film, where you as a viewer try to think along and care for David. The fact that it is all happening on one screen hardly feels like a gimmick. The final part of the film it starts to feel forced, when images are shown through hidden cameras and news reports. That also applies to the story itself, which at that moment loses a lot of credibility and leads to a disappointing conclusion. Still, Searching is a film that is tense and works well for the most part, thanks to the acting of Cho.

[score7]