Searching: a newly explored genre

I stumbled upon this movie on Netflix during my weekend binge where the title, Searching, seems so simple yet it caught my attention. It tied to some kind of an investigative feel, something along the lines of my favourite genre of late.

After reading its synopsis, I decided to start watching it from my phone in bed. I finished the entire movie before my bedtime. I must say, it is a movie portrayed from a different perspective and presented in an unconventional way.

The entire movie was presented from the perspective of a computer screen. It is a smart way to depict stories by just projecting the screen from a computer. On the other hand, this type of presentation also reflects how much our society relies on technology. Our lives are practically on the screen; may it be phone, computer or tablet screens.

The premise of this movie may seem stereotypical at first - a happy family with a dying mother from cancer (lymphoma, in this case). She eventually succumbed to her illness and the father is left with his daughter. The daughter one day disappeared and father went searching for her.

Without giving away too much spoiler, I must say, despite the stereotypical story line in the beginning, this movie has got several layers and contexts which are quite meaningful to ponder upon. Aside from difficult father-daughter relationship, the tension due to loss of a loved one, there are also interesting subplots which create various twists within the main story line.

I went to the web to search a little more about this movie. Released in 2018, it garnered over $75 million against its $1 million budget. It is a debut for director and screenwriter Aneesh Chaganty. It also has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.