It’s no surprise that social media forms both the universe and narrative of Searching . It’s natural for filmmakers to look at contemporary technology to experiment with form and explore its concomitant textures. When camcorders and mobile phone cameras became accessible, we saw a spate of ‘found footage’ films emerge, lapped up first by the horror and thriller genre. At a time when the sole cause of the current First Lady of the United States is cyberbullying, it’s inevitable to see an advent of ‘computer screen’ films in Hollywood, where the entire story is confined in laptops and mobile phone screens. Outside experimental cinema, mainstream films like Unfriended (2014) and its sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), and sitcoms like Modern Family (one episode) tried their hand at this format, and now we have Searching , where a taken situation unfolds in the web space.
American-bred Indian filmmaker, Aneesh Chaganty, addresses the audience before the feature presentation, informing that Searching germinated as a seven-minute short film. “It’s told in an unconventional manner,” he alerts the viewers. But the film is so invested in its form that the film could be accused of being obsessed with it, giving little thought to characterisation or the plot, which are fairly hackneyed and lack conviction.
- Director: Aneesh Chaganty
- Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Sara Sohn, Joseph Lee
- Story line: A father frantically finds the traces of her daughter online after she goes missing
The film suffers from convenient story-telling. There are times when the film’s technique borders on being gimmicky and self-centred, but then Searching is not just an “emotional thriller” as its maker calls it, but it is a significant player in the early days of a new wave of cinema or a sub-genre. The tools of story telling defy the conventions of camera work, lighting and framing, obviously. Instead, you have video chats, texts, messages, emails and blog posts that form its aesthetics. The film shows us how terrifying it can be when you see an email drop into the inbox or zoom into an image. It goes without saying that with so much going on the screen at once, the film demands your undivided attention, and rarely can you take your eyes off the screen.
Searching draws you in right at the start with a charming montage that probably has a universal resonance. David (John Cho) and Pamela Kim (Sara Sohn) have meticulously documented the growing up of their daughter Margot on an early Windows system, and as she grows up, you see the technology evolve. Pamela dies of cancer and David is left to raise Margot as a single dad. Their exchange over texts is amusingly real as he rants, deletes it all, and then writes something anodyne. As David tries to make sense of Margot’s sudden disappearance by stalker her online presence rigorously enough to put a teenager to shame, you uncover a virtual world that can no longer be called ‘virtual’. David’s obsessive struggle and helplessness, coupled with constant visuals of a computer screen, brings out the claustrophobia of the online world. You encounter social media hypocrisy, trickery and disillusion. Depending on your relationship and engagement with the multiverse of worldwide web, Searching can either impress or tire you out.
