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Searching

8/10

Stars: John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Joseph Lee, Sara Sohn

Director: Aneesh Chaganty

The first film to take place entirely on a computer screen, this is a gripping thriller that will keep you guessing as to its outcome.

David Kim (Cho) has recently lost his wife (Sohn) to lymphoma at 44 and is raising his 17-year-old daughter Margot (La), something of a piano prodigy, when the girl disappears.

He checks her messages and her friends, and his brother Peter (Lee), finally phoning the police, where the case is taken by decorated officer Rosemary Vick (Messing), who leaves no stone unturned in her search for the missing Margot, who, it seems, was leading a double life. And she had been putting her piano lesson money into an account for an untraceable 'Venmo'.

An email correspondence with the mysterious 'fish_and_chips' leads only to a waitress on shift at the time of Margot's disappearance, and the girl is finally declared dead after a confession by a convicted felon, who subsequently committed suicide.

But is she?

Despite the fact that all of this is played out via email. Skype and newsreels seen on David's computer, the thread of the story never fails to absorb. Don't take your eyes off the screen: there's a twist coming (of course there is), but the clues are all there for those alert enough to spot them.

David Quinlan

USA 2018. UK Distributor: Sony (Screen Gems). Colour by Cinelease.
102 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.

Review date: 27 Aug 2018