John Cho is on the Search in Searching

When your movie's entire runtime is on a computer screen, that can either succeed or backfire. The 2014 teen slasher flick Unfriended gave it a shot and while the technique was praised, the rest of the content, not so much. Its sequel Dark Web was no better. What promised to be a new form of film making was starting to look like a cheap horror gimmick à la Blair Witch. Who should come along and give it new life but a couple of newbie filmmakers, a competent script, and Hikari Sulu to give us a great mystery thriller.

From first time director Aneesh Chaganty, Searching follows family man David Kim (John Cho), whose teenage daughter Margot (Michelle La) goes missing. Was she abducted or she did she run away? Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Missing), who is assigned to the case suspect's it to be the latter. David's wife recently passed away and has left the family distant with each other. As David talks with friends and family including Margot's classmates for her whereabouts, a shocking revelation after another emerges that has David question if he really knew his daughter at all.

John Cho and Debra Missing

Searching is a cinematic marvel. One of my favorite films District 9 begins and ends like a documentary, Searching feels like such a film as the entire movie is presented from a computer screenshot, smartphone, YouTube, Facebook, and just about any digital platform. The first five minutes is a masterpiece that takes a page from Pixar's Up as we see the family grow together until the mother's eventual passing. All presented on an old Windows XP monitor. The mystery itself is thrilling and engaging as we follow David searching on his daughter's laptop for a clue of any kind.

Speaking of which, has John Cho ever acted as the lead in a drama? If he hasn't, more of this please. The man is fantastic as a determined but distraught dad doing all he can to find his daughter as we the audience get equally immersed in the search. I won't comment too much on the crime case but suffice it to say it threw me in loop on more than one occasion. Adding to the digital realism is the general public reactions from what is posted online, the good, the bad and ugly. The only nitpick would be a tiny detail that occurs in the third act. It didn't disappoint but it looked like something out of a Danny Boyle movie that it took me out of the film for a brief moment. Despite that nitpick the movie outdoes itself as an engrossing thriller. So enough searching online for reviews, search for the nearest theater near you and see it while you still can.

Final Verdict: (A)