Searching is a real achievement from first-time director

IT SOUNDS like a gimmick.

Searching is completely played out on screens — no, not the cinema screen, smartarse — we’re talking about iPhone screens, laptop screens, iPad screens, through webcam, within chat windows, text streams, YouTube videos, email inboxes, CCTV, nanny cam footage, Facetime and more.

Kind of like that Modern Family episode that was clearly a 22-minute ad for Apple, but this is much, much better.

So anyway, it sounds like a gimmick that would get old, fast, but it doesn’t.

First-time director Aneesh Chaganty has taken our modern obsession with living and communicating through our devices, coupled with the growth of online sleuthing, and crafted a compelling and impressive thriller.

It helps when you have a lead like John Cho, who after 20 years in the industry is finally bagging the kind of starring roles he deserves — yes, we are indeed living through the #starringjohncho age.

David Kim (Cho) is a father to teenage daughter Margot (Michelle La). He thinks he has a decent relationship with his kid, but they’ve grown increasingly distant since the death of David’s wife and Margot’s mother.

They pass each other in the kitchen in the mornings but mostly communicate through texts, the letters and teasing ellipses scrolling across the screen for us to see, creating a voyeuristic intimacy between the audience and the characters.

One day, Margot tells David she’s going to study group after school. He goes to sleep that night and misses two calls from her.

The next day, David calls Margot’s piano teacher, looking for her. Turns out she cancelled the lessons six months earlier but still took the $100 weekly tuition money.

Now frantic, David searches through her online social media accounts, calling all her friends, desperately looking for clues as to where his daughter might be. That’s when he realises that she had many secrets and he really didn’t know her at all.

Helping him on the case is Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) who has a son a similar age to Margot.

Searching cleverly lures you into this world from the opening sequence, a kind of digital montage of family life told through old computer profiles, emails and photo galleries — kind of like that excellent “Dear Sophie” Gmail ad, the one that will definitely make you cry.

By playing out everything David is doing — usually in a split-screen with his face coming through the webcam next to open social media windows — Searching really places you within the story to form a real connection with his character journey.

Despite its seemingly two-dimensional platform, Cho and Messing manage to sell their on-screen chemistry, especially when they’re rarely in the same scene together. In fact, the performers don’t have a physical acting partner most of the time.

Cho, in particularly, is brilliant and convincing as a dad determined to find his kid, adeptly conveying all these emotions when there’s an extra barrier between him and the audience. Between this and the small, quiet Columbus from last year, he’s really cemented his talents as a leading man.

Searching has tapped into our modern technological compulsions, to reveal something about the way we interact with each other — we’re more connected than ever but more distant than ever.

Chaganty has pulled off something great with Searching, creating a fascinating, kinetic thriller that doesn’t need car or foot chases, instead, relying on old-fashioned storytelling. It’s a real achievement for a first-timer.

Rating: ★★★★

Searching is in cinemas now.

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