An innovative and gripping murder-mystery, Searching also succeeds as a commentary on the surveillant nature of social media.

When it comes to social media, many of us are not shy in letting people know who we are, what we do, where we are going, and where we have been. Just like Red Riding Hood in the forest, we leave behind breadcrumbs in the digital sphere with little abandon. We preach privacy, yet notoriety is our secret, dirty little goal. The human ego is a wonderfully tragic thing.   

For David Kim (John Cho), his family life is for all to see. From his marriage to wife Pamela (Sara Sohn), to the birth of his daughter Margot (Michelle La), to Pamela’s death to cancer, his life is documented, uploaded, and hash tagged for the masses. When his now university bound daughter Margot disappears, David along with dogged police Detective Vick (Debra Messing) tries to track her down through her digital footprint and discovers, in true internet fashion, that there are two sides to his daughter.

There is a lot to like with Searching. Where lesser filmmakers might have made nothing more than a gimmick movie, writer/director Aneesh Chaganty (his feature debut) utilises the cinematic potential that all kinds of surveillance technology can muster, whether it be social media, smart devices, or good ol’ hidden camera. In turn, Chaganty has created a digital web of mystery and intrigue, as we are thrust into a missing persons case that engrosses with every twist, turn, and keystroke.

John Cho is rather brilliant as the father pushed to his breaking point. A parent’s greatest fear is to lose their child, and Cho portrays the anger, sadness, confusion and madness with credible and sympathetic power. It is a beautifully mature performance that will go a long way in distancing Cho from his “stoner movie” actor tag.

Best of all is Chaganty’s ability to blend murder mystery genre tropes with filmmaking innovation, and on point commentary about how we present ourselves online, versus who we really are. It all begs the question as to which is more real: the image we project with cringing openness on our social media platform? Or the roles we play – family, career, community – in the real world? For a “gimmick” genre movie to ask these questions is quite an astounding thing.