Searching
Teenagers have been lying to their parents since the dawn of time. Keeping secrets, testing boundaries and rebelling against authority makes them feel alive as their bodies are ravaged by puberty. But in the internet age even the smallest deceptions can carry grave consequences. For the most part, Hollywood has avoided addressing this danger head on, and paid even less attention to the ways in which online advocacy can translate thematically to genre filmmaking.
Aneesh Chaganty’s thriller Searching does both of those things by embracing the very technology that allows predators to hide beyond anonymity. Taking place entirely inside social media platforms and search engines, the film rigorously charts one father’s attempt to locate his missing daughter by investigating her digital footprint. In doing so, it deftly positions pro-active parents as the last line of defense against the infinite dangers of online activity.
David Kim (John Cho) and his daughter Margot (Michelle La) have had a tough time communicating lately. The family’s matriarch (Sara Sohn) has passed away from cancer, and the magnitude of the loss comes across during opening credits compiled mostly of archival home video footage, calendar invites and doctor’s appointments. In response to such overwhelming sadness, David has become less concerned with providing Margot parental oversight, while she has discovered a newfound sense of identity in the digital void.
Chaganty suggests that even the slightest disconnect in communication between parent and child can produce potential tragedy. After studying at a friend’s house one night, Margot fails to return home. It takes David an entire day to realize his daughter is missing, which becomes a commentary on the assumption that technology better connects us. Interviewing her Facebook friends and scouring Instagram posts hoping to find clues, David spends the early part of Searching desperately attempting to piece together a potential crime scene through coded breadcrumbs.
Searching remains potent during these early segments, David’s desperate deep dive into Margot’s alternate existence has the stirring momentum of an extended action set piece. Even his attempt to change her email password becomes a nerve-frying plunge down the rabbit hole. At this point it seems very likely that he may spend the rest of his life chasing ghosts, one login at a time.
Having worked for Google, Chaganty has a great understanding of online platforms and frameworks. Sequences depicting rigorous online usage, something most viewers experience in their everyday lives, could be dry as a bone in theory. But here they come across as surgical, taut and intuitive. After David reaches one dead end he must back track and find another back door to the truth. It’s parenting as desperate troubleshooting with no guarantee of a happy ending.
Eventually, Margot’s disappearance sparks a police investigation and national media frenzy. David’s pursuit of the truth spills out into the open, and news footage, press conferences and surveillance video become the primary conveyers of information. When Chaganty expands beyond the tense frames of David’s desktop and iPhone screen, Searching becomes decidedly less interesting and transitions into a standard issue “ripped from the headlines” cautionary tale with unnecessarily convoluted plot twists and multiple endings. All that narrative and stylistic jazz does the film’s central concept a disservice.
Still, Searching (opening in wide theatrical release Friday, Aug. 31) ambitiously updates the worst nightmare scenario for parents in intriguing ways. It conjures up plenty of suspense within limited visual frames and seemingly innocuous video feeds, a testament to Chaganty’s natural instincts as a director. David’s rollercoaster ride of a journey has an important social angle as well, showing just how far the goal posts of parenting have changed in the social media age. It’s not just about awareness or support, but being a tenacious advocate for your child’s physical and digital well-being when no one else will.