I know a lot of people might have already seen this film since it came out in 2018, but I literally just watched it over Easter with my family and was OBSESSED! I had never heard of the movie Searching (2018) before, but I am certainly glad I found it when I was scrolling through movie recommendations on Hulu. I am typically a person who absolutely loves thriller and crime films. If you are too, then definitely watch this film!
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I will be reviewing this movie in depth, so unfortunately spoilers are included. If you haven’t watched the film yet, definitely go do so and then come back to this page and read the review!
So, everyone reading this should know what the film is about, but in case you forgot, let me sum it up for you:
Searching is a film released in 2018 that centers around the disappearance of a young girl, Margot Kim, and her father, David Kim, who is on a never-ending quest to find out what happened to her and whether or not his daughter is still alive.
Margot is only 16-years-old, so for her to randomly go missing one day is absolutely terrifying for widowed father David. Margot’s mother lost her life from battling Lymphoma, as they make clear in the beginning of the film. The film does not focus much on the strain her death had on Margot and David’s relationship, but we can infer that it affected both of them and set things back a bit. It was clear they did not have the best communication skills with one another either.
The cinematography of the film was so unique, as a lot of it was in the point of view of David searching (hence the name of the film) on his or Margot’s laptop for clues as to where she could have vanished to.
There are so many unexpected twists and turns throughout the plot of the film, such as David’s brother being involved with Margot. At first they made it seem as if Margot and her uncle had some sort of inappropriate relationship, but we came to find out they were smoking marijuana together. It’s still inappropriate as they were hiding it from David, but I did expect a lot worse. Margot’s uncle Peter was her outlet of communication after her mom died. She felt uncomfortable talking to her dad about missing her mom, as she didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was, so Peter was the one that ended up being there for her the most. Hence the reason why she stopped taking piano and restrained from telling her dad. She was too nervous to break his heart, but playing piano just reminded her way too much of her mom.
However, the biggest plot twist happens at the end of the film, when David believes they found Margot’s captor and potential killer according to the detective leading the investigation, Detective Rosemary Vick. David let his intuitions get the best of him, and this time it ended up helping him. He knew Margot’s captor would not just come forward that quickly, and after a bit more digging and a shocking revelation, we came to find out that Detective Vick was not assigned this case, she CHOSE to lead it because her son was the boy who hurt Margot.
Luckily, with a fast forward at the end of the film, Margot is alive and in recovery. Her relationship with her father seems to be better than ever.
The film touches upon a lot of different social topics such as the fear of losing a loved one, the lack of communication with teenage children, and just how much can we trust the police system? All in all, this is a great film with so much action and suspense. Definitely watch it!