Review of Searching (2018) by Dawdlingpoet — 21 Nov 2021

I thought this was quite an intriguing film, in terms of making the viewer (particularly if its the younger generation) realise how much of our lives we may put online, whether that be behind a private, password-controlled account or not. It was an ironic film to watch at the time for me personally, as it just so happens I've decided the other day to make an effort not to be on social media as much as I used to be, as it has stressed me out and raised my anxieties a bit, particularly during this pandemic time (I'm typing this late Jan. 2021).

Anyway, the film is good - perhaps a little slow but not entirely badly paced. Everything we see is shown via webcam video footage and we see the father, who only after a while realises his daughter appears to have disappeared, typing and trying his hardest to access said daughters accounts, on the search for any clues to her whereabouts. I felt I could empathise with the situation he was in, not knowing too much about his daughters' social circle. Certain aspects of the plot that unfold, I felt I could personally relate to. On the slightly techy side of things, I'd almost forgotten about tumblr and I hadn't heard of MyCast either but I have now! also, I was surprised at the start when the dad loads the PC as it clearly shows an old version of Windows - I think XP but certainly, pre-Windows 7. Given this film was apparently released in 2017, it seems a pretty dated system to be running but maybe that's just the geek in me speaking up there? its not entirely relevant to the film I suppose. Having said that, I did notice that when video calls were incoming, they would often be branded as FaceTime calls (i.e. video calls communicating through iPhones), which implies its set pretty much in the modern-day.

The way the plot progresses isn't bad - there are frustrating moments and I saw things that made me wonder what had happened and all the rest of it but I'd say its a pretty low key kind of a film. Its thought-provoking in that it makes you think about how people and companies respond to certain situations. I won't say anymore so as not to provide spoilers but while I wouldn't say its an entirely amazing film as such overall, I thought it was quite good and certainly towards the end I did feel surprisingly gripped, so I would recommend it, yes.