PLOT SUMMARY: When his daughter Margot goes missing, David discovers shocking secrets about her and becomes even more determined to find her even though everyone tells him she may be dead.
When I first joined Facebook, it was at a time when not everyone was aware of it. The only reason I joined was not to connect with classmates, but to play social games online. I would login every now and then.
Over the years, the popularity of Facebook grew and soon more and more social networks became prominent. Now social media isn't just to connect with people you know but has also become a source of world news and celebrity gossip. In fact, many news sources quote celebrities from their messages on social media.
I know of a TV show that is based entirely on what celebrities are talking about on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. As if we can't check those apps on our own?
I first saw the trailer of Searching when I went to see The Nun. I was immediately intrigued by the premise because this can literally happen to any one of us. As adults, we are aware of the risks of being conned. Teenagers, perhaps not so much.
The story is told through computer screens and we see the characters thanks to video call apps.
SEARCHING Movie Plot
The movie begins with a family logging into a computer. The Kims are a happy family consisting of David, Pamela and their daughter Margot. Unfortunately, Pamela dies leaving a deep impact on the family. Margot takes it harder than everyone thinks which is revealed later on.
One night, while at a study group, Margot video calls her father and tells him she will be home late. Her father wakes up the next morning, finds the trash still in the kitchen after repeatedly telling his daughter to take it out. When he finds two missed calls and a video call on his phone, he gets distraught. Somewhere in the middle of the night, Margot was trying to reach him, and now she's disappeared.
Or so it seems.
He thinks she's at school and isn't picking up. When he calls one of her childhood friends, the mother informs him she's taking absent from school and going on a camping trip. The next day, the boy tells him that though he invited Margot, she declined and was late, too distant.
He checks her Facebook and goes through the list only to discover something that is true in our case as well. Not everyone on Facebook is someone we know personally. Some, we've added because the games require new teammates, neighbours, etc. In Margot's case, these are people she knows from school. However, none of them are her friends.
David is shocked, but he is about to have his world shaken even more. The piano lessons that he paid so much weekly for? Margot never went to them. She deposited the money in her account and is shocked to discover that she transferred it all to someone whose account is no longer active.
The detective working on his case is trying to be helpful but reminds him that chances were that his daughter ran away. David knows this can't be true.
He goes through all her social media and discovers she was using a vlogging site to post about how much she missed her mother. She also posted images of her favourite spot, a lake, on Instagram.
David gets a hunch and asks the police to search near the lake. Margot is nowhere to be found, but her car is.
Before any further investigation can take place, a storm hits and the search is delayed. David has still not given up. Online, Margot's "friends" are posting images about how she was their best friend— another display of how frivolous and superficial people can be. Margot was no one's friend. All she had was herself.
David digs further and finds messages being sent between Margot and her uncle, his brother, Peter. Assuming the worst, he confronts his either and accuses him of having an affair.
Peter in turn accuses David of not being sensitive toward Margot who was suffering from depression after her mother died. He also confesses to sharing his drugs with her.
Now that everyone assumes Margotis dead, David arranges for her funeral and while going through stock pictures to use for the service, finds a picture of a woman who was friends with Margot online. David is disturbed because the detective assured him the woman was only a waitress and hadn't heard from Margot. Then what is a picture of that woman doing on a stock photo site?
Yes, like many scammers online, the person talking to Margot was not a girl.
SEARCHING Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Spoiler alert! It was a guy who always had a crush on Margot and was pretending to be a girl with a sick mother so that Margot would sympathize with him. However, when she sends him money, he freaks out and meets her at the lake.
Margot, clearly enraged at being fooled, tosses insults at him to which the guy accidentally pushes her off a cliff. The guy is none other than the detective's son!
Yes, more twists and turns, and reminded me a lot of a Bollywood movie: Drishyam. With a few changes of course.
David only figures it out after the guy who confessed to killing Margot was part of a volunteer team of ex-convicts helmed by the detective.
The detective is caught, but what happened to Margot? She had been without food and water for days and the place where the detective purposely didn't search at the cliffs, was too steep.
But here comes another twist...there had been a storm. Margot could have drunk rainwater.
David's hunch is proven right again and Margot is saved and reunited with her father.
The movie ends on a happy note, but as a viewer, we have to learn our lessons to be extremely careful online. And yes, social media is not a fruitful substitute for actual networking.
This movie is an edge of the seat thriller with no dull moments.
Scare scale: 4.5/5
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