The following is an edition of The Mirror’s movie column, Panther Picture Spotlight. All views, thoughts and opinions belong solely to the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Drury Mirror. 

“Searching” is a 2018 film from Aneesh Chaganty, who makes his feature debut with the picture. Distributed by Sony, but first shown at Sundance Film Festival in January, it follows a father, David Kim (John Cho), looking for his daughter Margot (Michelle La) after she mysteriously disappears after a study group one night.

The film is the fourth to ever be shot in this fashion: in such a way as to give the illusion of a computer screen. David researches information related to his daughter’s disappearance on the left side of the screen, while movie-watchers see his face in the FaceTime camera on the right side of the screen.

Chaganty uses this technique to film in innovative ways. For instance, the film’s opening montage is shown through organizing files on a hard drive. It is one of the most effective montage openings since Pixar’s “Up” for the way it uses exclusively visual storytelling. In another moment, a realization is shown as two images are pulled up online on opposite sides of the screen while Cho’s reaction is in the bottom corner. In any other film, this would have to be done with a cut or an awkward split screen, but “Searching” is able to show both what is being reacted to and the reaction in a way that feels entirely organic.

Director of photography Juan Sebastion Baron put in time to make sure everything on screen feels realistic but still evocative with limited camera angles and lighting, often using the light from the computer screen to illuminate Cho’s face in tense moments.

The duo took what could be a limiting concept and combined it with a screenplay to bring out the best of the writing and direction.

Unfortunately, there are also drawbacks to this vision. Toward the end of the film, events transpire in vehicles without the assistance of computers or phones, and what happens is narrated to the audience instead of shown: the antithesis of the montage mentioned earlier. Luckily, the rest of the film built up enough goodwill for this oversight to be forgiven, but it is a problem nonetheless, and one that should have been fixed before the release.

Additionally, the director chooses to show the final scene from the perspective of a character who has little screen time, lessening the catharsis the ending should bring David.

The “iNoir” nature of the screenplay offers some of the drawbacks of the detective genre. Nearly all the dialogue in the film is expositional in nature. The film gets away with this by having David learn it all along with the audience, keeping the audience intrigued by his journey instead of the facts of the story.

“Searching” is an imperfect but enjoyable piece of filmmaking that mostly finds ways to use its concept to its advantage, while keeping the audience invested in David’s experience and Cho’s performance. It is certainly worth a matinee showing if one is interested in indie crime or detective stories.

Written by Jacob Maher.