Open Windows 2014 | Searching 2018 | Double Feature Review

Shout Out to Dominik who asked if I saw Searching. I was going to watch this either way because I like John Cho. He most recently did a great job in The Exorcist TV series.

The movie opens with a computer turning on and it was kind of fun to go down memory lane with the older programs and websites as the family’s back story is told creatively. This intro is a short master class on the film rule “show don’t tell”.

You know by now what I’m going to say about all the files on the desk top. It’s giving me anxiety the number of folders and files cluttering up that desktop. In this case it makes sense because of the dad’s emotional state.

This dad’s first problem is when he facetimed his daughter about taking out the garbage and he asks her which friends house is her study group at and she responds “a new friend you haven’t met yet”.

Maybe my parents were stricter, but I couldn’t go to anyone’s house my parents didn’t know at that age. They had to know the kid and have met their parents. It was like that until I graduated high school.

It worked out well because I lived in a kind of small town and the parents ended up being friends and hanging out together. Anyway that was his first mistake.

This is a mystery thriller and the story unfolds like peeling layers from an onion.
I really liked how the story unfolds. Especially the part that showed how phony people can be for internet clout. Margot had no friends at school and some people used her to tutor them, but were not friendly with her. She even used to eat lunch alone.

Shout out to people who have dealt with that. I went through it in middle school. First day of 7th grade I sat at a lunch table thinking, someone will come along and sit with me. No one did.

This happened for a week straight. Then I used to just eat in the library. I met two other girls who also spent lunch time in the library and this is also when I started reading Stephen King novels.

Anyway, once she came up missing those same people were making YouTube videos of themselves crying and saying she was their best friend. Trifling.

Parts of the father’s search remind me of the methods used my Nev and Max in Catfish.

I like how not every scene was visual. There were some phone calls that we only hear. Some movies would have made every single conversation a video chat and that is super unrealistic.

There is a nod to Unfriended in this movie. When the dad goes on Facebook one of the profiles is Laura Barnes.

The acting is really good. There were no weak links. John Cho has to do the most and he delivers. I liked the guy who played his brother. Handsome dude!

This has a twist ending. There are hints that you one may pick up on after the fact, but it was still a surprise to me.

While everyone cream’s themselves over Mandy, I think Searching is the better film. I should say that I enjoyed this film much better than Mandy. But that’s just my opinion.