The
internet most likely contributed to Margot Kim’s disappearance, but maybe it
can also help find her. Technology is probably neutral at best in this case,
but the film in question still won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, bestowed on films
addressing science and technology, at this year’s Sundance. It is every parents’
nightmare, but Margot’s father David will find plenty of clues on her laptop in
Aneesh Chaganty’s Search, which screens
during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
The
last time David Kim talked to his daughter before she went missing, he scolded
her over a face-time chat. The Kims are very connected and online, so we can
follow their story via various computer and iPhone screens. Tragically, the
Kims are still reeling from the untimely death of their wife and mother Pamela
Nam Kim. Now, it is just the two of them, unless you also count stoner Uncle
Peter.
Alas,
Kim was not awake when his daughter tried to call him late the night of her
disappearance, but circumstances initially conspire to offer false explanations
for her absence. Unfortunately, after a few days, Kim is forced to file a missing
person report. The detective assigned to the case is one of the stars of the
department, but the trail is cold. Working with her, Kim will scour his
daughter’s social media accounts for leads. Eventually, he takes deep dives
into her online browser history, which will indeed produce clues. However, it
also leads to the unsettling realization he did not know his daughter as well
as he thought.
This
story told on computer screens already has ample precedent, including “The Sick
Thing that Happened to Emily When She was Younger,” Joe Swanberg’s segment in
the original V/H/S film and Matthew
Solomon’s Chatter. However, Chaganty refines
the technique in a way that develops character much more than its predecessors.
After the first act, the audience will be deeply invested in all three Kims,
including the late mother.
Despite
his Star Trek fame, John Cho still
has the appropriate everyman quality necessary to carry off a role like David
Kim. He covers a wide emotional range and develops some genuine paternal
chemistry with Michelle La’s Margot. La gives a remarkably poignant and vulnerable
performance that also greatly helps Chaganty manage the revelation of Margot’s
secrets. Sara Sohn is simply devastating as Pamela Kim and Joseph Lee perfectly
calibrates the surprisingly complicated Peter Lee. That makes sitcom star Debra
Messing the weak link as the problematically pedestrian Det. Vick. Still, the
rest of the ensemble more than compensates.
You
could say Search is built around a gimmick,
but the execution is tight and tense, so viewers will get caught up in it
anyway. Editors Nick Johnson and Will Merrick deserve special credit for
cutting all the disparate clips and screens together so smoothly. Search happens to be one of several
films currently playing Sundance that inspire caution and paranoia with respect
to social media. However, Chaganty and co-screenwriter Sev Ohanian present a
fuller, more nuanced vision of online technology and its proper functions in society.
Highly recommended, Search screens
again this morning (1/23), Thursday (1/25), and Friday (1/26) in Park City, as
well as Saturday (1/27) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance Film
Festival.