Searching (III) (2018)
7/10
Searching
20 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I saw the trailer for this film a couple of times, I was first interested because of the star of American Pie and the Star Trek reboot movies being the lead star, and the concept looked interesting, all shot from the point-of-view of smartphones and computer screens. Basically in San Jose, California, David Kim (John Cho) and his daughter Margot (Michelle La) have become somewhat distant, following the death of his wife and her mother Pamela Nam Kim (Sara Sohn) from cancer. One night, Margot leaves to go to a study group, while David is sleeping during the night, she calls him three times. He discovers the missed calls the next day, he tries calling her back, but she does not answer, he assumes she is attending a piano lesson. But when he calls the piano instructor, David learns that Margot cancelled her lesson six months ago, he discovers that all her lesson money went into an account, and she transferred $2,500 into a now deleted Venmo account. David decides to report Margot missing, the case is assigned to San Jose Police Department Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) who asks him to give her more information about his daughter. David contacts all of Margot's friends after successfully logging into her Facebook account, and finds that she has no close friends. Vick finds that Margot created a fake ID for herself, she suggests to David that she stole the money and has run away. David discovers that Margot had a YouCast (video blogging) account, and she frequently communicated to a user called fish_n_chips, and through her various social media accounts, David finds that she frequently visited Barbosa Lake. A search crew is sent to Barbosa Lake, there they discover Margot's car underwater and the $2,500 inside. Looking through the crime scene photos, David recognises a jacket belonging to his brother Peter (Joseph Lee) inside Margot's car, he also finds they were interacting often, suggesting a sexual relationship between them. David visits Peter to confront him, taking surveillance cameras with him, the two get into a fight, but Peter tells him that they were communicating to smoke marijuana together, and accuses David of being an incompetent father. Immediately after, Vick calls David to tell him that former convict Randy Cartoff (Ric Sarabia) has made an online confession video, admitting he sexually assaulted and killed Margot, he committed suicide immediately after. While preparing Margot's memorial on a website, David coincidentally discovers an advertisement picture, an image of a young woman matches the profile picture of fish_n_chips, this is a stock photo, he contacts the model of the photo, she does not know about Margot or the case. When trying to call Vick, David accidentally learns that she was not assigned to the case, she volunteered. Suspicious, David finds an article that features Vick volunteering in rebuilding houses with several ex-cons, in the image she is standing next to Cartoff. Believing that Vick is involved with Margot's disappearance, David contacts the Sheriff's police department, she surrenders to the police after they arrive with David. While being interrogated, Vick reveals that her son Robert created the fish_n_chips profile to catfish Margot, he gained knowledge of her from stalking her, and he led Margot into believing his family was in need of money. After Margot paid him the $2,500, he began to feel guilty and wanted to pay her back, Robert followed her to Barbosa Lake one night, he got into her car without warning, she attacked him in confusion, and Robert accidentally Margot into the ravine. Robert desperately called his mother for help, to protect him, Vick shoved Margot's car into the lake, manipulated evidence and the crime scene, and forced Cartoff to falsely admit to killing Margot before murdering him. David and the police rush to the ravine, where Margot is found alive. Sometime later, photos show that Margot has applied for college to major in piano, her status is pending, she and her father David have reconciled and have many phone and video conversations together. Also starring Alex Jayne Go as Young Margot (5 years), Megan Liu as Young Margot (7 years) and Kya Dawn Lau as Young Margot (9 years). Cho gives a pretty good performance as the concerned father determined to find out the truth behind his daughter going missing, Messing is also interesting as the detective updating him, the action mostly takes place through various recognisable social media platforms, it really makes you realise both the good and bad sides of using this technology, it may sound like something that could have been boring, but the unconventional plot and inventive structure is far from it, it keeps you guessing all the way, a stylish and watchable thriller. Very good!
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