Also checked out Searching, the new film about a regular dad whose teen daughter has gone missing and his efforts to help the cops find her. The film is told from the POV of his computer, similar to recent horror films like Unfriended. This is a more serious – and better – film than those, even if it is still a genre mystery flick.
The film is more artistic than I expected in the way it uses the computer screen for storytelling. It uses interfaces we may remember from the recent past as it shows the growth of the family over ten years. They get right how YouTube used to look, or signing up for the first time on Facebook, instant messenger making way for modern chat, the introduction of FaceTime, etc. Without words, it shows us triumph and tragedy as a prelude to the main film. It’s not nearly as emotional, but it has a similar silent storytelling feel as the opening montage of Up.
The main story of how John Cho’s daughter goes missing and how he connects with the police and then with her friends are all told reasonably believably. I mean, they use video chat way more than people probably really do but they also show plenty of text chats and news footage streamed on laptop. It holds together conceptually until the end where the mystery is revealed and the footage becomes more omniscient (John Cho wouldn’t see some of the footage… but those are just details).
This is a pretty good mystery film that focuses heavily on John Cho as actor. He’s good. I’ve never felt he was bad but I’d never have chosen him to headline a film that requires him to act against a computer screen alone. Which is kind of harsh but I don’t mean it to be… I like John Cho and am happy he pulled this off.
So, yeah, this is a pretty good film that I recommend, especially if you like a good mystery. It’s getting very good reviews with some people saying its one of the best films of the year. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s certainly a solid entertainment.
Score: 82