I have recently watched “Searching,” and I would like to spend a few lines talking about the film. Written by Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian and directed by Aneesh Chaganty, the film is set in San Jose, California. The world of searching is related to the highly digital version of the present-day world. The audience literally sees the characters typing their keyboards to solve a problem of the film, and takes part in the searching that the central Character David Kim is involved. Unlike “The Matrix” or the other tech movies, the setting is real life and the problem of the movie is a real problem.
The plot revolves around David Kim (John Cho), a widower and Margot (Michelle La ), his 16 year old daughter who suddenly goes missing. David and his wife, Pamela (Sara Sohn) raise their daughter over the years storing their memories through series of photos, videos and storing them in the calendar of a computer. Later, Margot gets excess to the memories of her mother through these digital objects as Pamela dies of cancer. Since David and Margot live far from each other, they rely on text messages and FaceTime calls for their communication. The conflict begins when Margot does not communicate her father after a group study. David does not realize that her daughter is missing until the next day. Then, he begins to search for her daughter through Facebook histories, Tumblr posts and digital map histories- the applications that we use in real life. The story gets thrilling when the audience also gets engaged in the searching process of Margot. The whole process of “Searching” has so many twists and turns as detectives and police get involved.
John Cho, Michelle La and Debra Messing did a very good job in the movie to focus on a modern day crisis. Margot is seen to have so many virtual friends and she is also alienated in the modern world as she has a very few real-life friends. The emotional detachment from the human beings cannot be solution in the modern world. The lesson that the movie teaches is important that true attachment should be done by moral support and emotion. Computer applications are making us unsocial though we may indulge in the ocean of virtual friends. The cinematographer and the screenwriter did wonderful jobs of portraying the moral underneath the suspense and twists of the film. The audience who like the tech movies and love watching solving the problems with the help of computers will like the movie.