After David Kim (John Cho)’s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter’s laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace his daughter’s digital footprints before she disappears forever.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2018 and was released at 9 theaters in the United States on August 24, 2018, by Screen Gems. It will be released at 1,100 theaters in the United States on August 31, 2018. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Cho’s performance.
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 93% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Searching‘s timely premise and original execution are further bolstered by well-rounded characters brought to life by a talented cast.”On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.
“Searching” is pieced together via text messages, Skype calls and other online interactions. A pleasantly gimmicky movie, it gets its power from something that isn’t a gimmick at all: an actor’s ability to simply and movingly tell a story. Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4.
“Searching gives the psychological thriller a smart digital twist” LEAH GREENBLATT , Entertainment Weekly