Searching

I just got out of seeing Searching, a "screen life" movie written and directed by Aneesh Chaganty, and I can't overstate how much I enjoyed it. Why I liked this movie can be summed up quite succinctly with four simple words: compelling story, engaging presentation. Allow me to elaborate.This movie has an incredibly well written story. It starts with a heartfelt sequence of home movies that endears you to all of our main characters in minutes, quite similar to the beginning of Up (2009). It then unfolds a mystery, layer by layer, until you are quite literally on the edge of your seat, in anticipation for the final reveal. At no point along the way does it ever really slow down or get dull. Everything that happens is meaningful and contributes to either the narrative or the tone. A big part of the story working so well has to do with the excellent performance from John Cho. The entire premise of the story hinges upon his performance as he is the emotional core of it all. Without him, this movie might not be nearly as good. In addition to having a tight, well-written screenplay, Searching also is presented in an incredibly fascinating way. Chaganty uses the restrictions of "screen life" to his favor by creating inventive and new ways to present information. In doing so, he truly draws the viewer into the perspective of John Cho's character as everything is essentially shown from his point of view. This heightens both the tension as we learn things at the same time he does, as well as makes his character that much more empathetic. 2018 has had a pretty stellar summer in terms of the quality of movies that we've seen, and Searching thankfully doesn't break the trend. It wouldn't surprise me if this becomes the sleeper hit of the summer. It's quite good. Do yourself a favor and go see it!

Amazing thriller- twists and turns. Just when you think the ending is too neat- there's another twist and another. Had me crying in the first 5 minutes and sobbing at the end. Original and gripping. This film is gonna be huge!

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 !!

A story told entirely through a character's laptop screen - it's an increasingly popular gimmick that's now been done enough times that it can no longer be called fresh. But, thankfully, this is best execution of the style to date. Aneesh Chaganty dazzles in his directorial debut, displaying a mastery of the medium, crafting a compelling film narrative told entirely through someone's laptop activity.

The movie comes out hot with a mostly nonverbal tale of love and family that's shades of 'Up' and nearly as affecting. An emotionally warping scene like that to kick things off lets us know immediately that we're in good hands. The music choices give a strong signal of this as well. I firmly believe that music choices in the opening minutes of movies are as reliable an indicator of the movie's quality as you'll find.

This moving love story tells that us the family is close, or, at least they were before mom died. Now dad David (John Cho) is raising his daughter Margot (Michelle La) as well he can, but they seem a bit distant. When Margot mysteriously goes missing, he finds out just how little he knows about his daughter.

He and police detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) scramble to find out what happened to Margot - was she kidnapped, catfished, or did she runaway? The work they put in to unravel this mystery is frantic and exhausting. They track Margot's car on traffic cams, they contact all of her Facebook friends, and they dig for anything of use they can find on her laptop. The level of detail displayed in the investigation is so thorough that it's as much an education in snooping as it is entertainment (not that parents should follow these steps to snoop on their own kids!)

It's a constant thrill ride throughout, even as conventional storytelling techniques seep through the cracks at the end when the laptop screen gimmick proves too challenging. One answered question leads to five more unanswered, and a few false endings and twists will leave you breathless. In movies, there are twists and then there are TWISTS. "Searching" has TWISTS. Enjoy.

This is a thriller which can certainly be accurately described as original. It takes a fairly typical suspense story about a recently widowed father whose daughter vanishes one night and presents it in a most unique way. The whole film plays out on the computer screen via programs such as Facetime, iMessage, Gmail, Tumblr, Facebook, etc. In this way, it reflects the reality that so many people now live, given that so many nowadays are literally never off their devices. In this way, the film is completely relevant and taps into a scenario most will be able to clearly identify with. The conceit is also terrific in that it accentuates the mystery element of the story, where we stumble upon clues via the various social media platforms. The very limitations of the set-up ultimately amplify the material and take it to another level. I found it to be one of the most original, gripping and compelling thrillers I have seen in quite a while. Lead actor John Cho must be credited too with giving a strong central performance as the grieving father, with some good additional work from Debra Messing as the detective assigned to the case. All-in-all, a fantastic bit of work.