SEARCHING…
US, 2018, 102 minutes, Colour.
John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee.
Directed by Aneesh Chaganty.
Searching… Is one of those messages that sometimes blinks on our computers. And, this is the key to this film, not only in its plot and themes but in its whole cinematic treatment.
The film has the audience looking continuously at computer screens – which means that if Searching… were to be downloaded on a computer, it would mean watching a small screen presentation of the big screen film of a small screen story and treatment!
Audiences may appreciate the inventiveness of the technique: homepages, photos and uploading, emails, texting, room surveillance, television news, police interviews, phone calls. On the other hand, some may find it at times something of a trial, being fixated on the computer screen for an hour and a half.
On the inventive side, the film quickly establishes the central characters by uploading photos, husband and wife, birth of a daughter, a file of uploads tracing her growth and development, the bonding with her parents, her mother’s illness… Most of us can identify with uploading photos.
The main action of the film takes place when Margot, the daughter, is in her final years of high school. She has many friends, enjoys texting, but there are some tensions with her father, especially in their shared grief at the death of her mother. She is not quite as open with him as she should be or has he expects. The father, David, played by John Chu, is sympathetic, wanting the best for his daughter.
She does some texting but when her father responds, there is no reply. This means that the film moves into the familiar story of the missing daughter, the possibility of abduction, the mystery of what has happened to her, the father and his growing anxiety, making demands on the police, confronting his brother who has been keeping some secrets from him.
A lot of the sequences on line from surveillance in various rooms of the house, split screens, characters walking from one side of the screen into an image on the other – we are continually conscious that we are watching the computer screen.
And the other central character is the detective (Debra Messing) who is assigned to the case, interviews the father, makes investigations, finds that a criminal has confessed to the abduction. These sequences are all done by television newscasts, the on air talking heads, the on location photography, helicopter shots…
Just when the audience thinks that the film is going along in an expected manner, there is a dramatic twist, leading to an ending that is not quite what was anticipated.
For those who enjoy this kind of thriller, quite satisfying. For those intrigued by the cinema technique and the use of the computer screen in its various guises, intriguing.
1. An IT thriller? Combining the conventions of the thriller, the missing girl, the grieving father, detection with the focus on computers and development?
2. The title, the indicating of an IT search?
3. The use of the computer screen throughout the film? Homepages, photos and uploading, emails, texting, room surveillance, television news, police interviews, phone calls? The overall effect of the visual style with the computer screens? The musical score?
4. The basic plot, the film establishing the father and his love for his wife, the birth of the daughter, the images on the various stages of her growing up, the bonds, the wife and the illness, her death? The development of the father and daughter relationship? The teenager? The role of his brother? Differences, difficulties, lies, potential tragedy?
5. The impact of the photos of the central characters? Margot and her growing up? Her mother and the piano? The piano lessons and performance?
6. The situation, the grief of the father, communication and not communicating with his daughter, her age, the teenager, the father and his checking the emails? The brother, the visit, drugs, the cooking the recipes? The later discovery of the texts? His visit and confronting his brother?
7. The piano teacher, the contact, dropping the lessons, banking the fee for six months?
8. Margot not at school, the response of the teachers? Discovering her friends, the mother, the IT communication, phone calls and texting? The friends, going camping, to the mountains? Discovery that Margot had not gone?
9. Going to the police, the reporting, the detective, her being assigned (and later discovering she had volunteered)? The discussions with the father, following the leads, the nature of the investigation, the phone contacts?
10. The father checking Google, her reputation, the photo – and the irony of the man confessing, newspaper and television reports, his being in the seen in the photo with the detective?
11. The media and the coverage of the case, images, reporters? The discovery of the car, the contents, the location, the lake, the cliff?
12. The confrontation with the detective? Her confessing? The role of her son, his relationship with Margot, at school, after-school? His needing special treatment? His fears, contacting his mother? Her reassuring him, taking the blame? Her setting up the criminal, his confession, her dealing with him?
13. Her being arrested, the interrogation, the revelation of the truth?
14. The background of the article about the man surviving in the mountains? The issue of Margot, having enough water to survive?
15. The revelation about the money, her concern about the detective’s son, withdrawing the money, wanting to help?
16. The search, the cliff, the concerned father, the police, the recovery of Margot, going to the hospital?
17. The effect of watching this familiar kind of story through the means of the variety of IT communication and social media?
