89 - Searching

You wait all day for a new type of film and then two turn up at once. Hot on the heels of Unfriended: Dark Web, which we discussed a few weeks ago, is Searching, another desktop film (as we're calling them). John Cho plays a father whose teenage daughter goes missing and conducts a search for her using her laptop and an old family PC. It's formally a little different from Unfriended, and we consider that even more formal difference might have suited the story. But the form does allow the film to cleverly and subtly address themes of generational difference and familial disconnection, and the drama the film builds is deeply involving. We also remark upon the film's surprisingly unique and welcome depiction of an Asian-American family, and Mike misremembers the origin of the term "woman in the fridge". Recorded on 3rd September 2018.