Words by Danielle Clarke
How much of your day do you spend staring at your computer or phone screen?
How much information about yourself do you unconsciously release into the internet via your words and pictures?
How many of your interactions with others are electronic?
How much trust do you place with technology?
Director Anneesh Chaganty’s new film questions the common mediums for our modern relationships in his new film Searching. The film is based entirely from the voyeuristic viewpoint of the activity scrolling across an American family’s computer screens. As a father desperately tries to find his missing daughter, he follows the unsettling breadcrumbs left through her online footprint.
As the veil of Facebook friends and sunlit Tumblr pictures begins to reveal personal truths too difficult to post, the dangerous delusion that this social media mask will also acts as protection becomes more horrifically apparent with every click of the father’s mouse.
The film is chilling in its subtly. Though no overt grandstanding is made about our current dependency on electronics to communicate, it does highlight that the level of connection we feel to someone may only be screen deep.
A fascinating utilisation of daily technologies creates an innovative delivery for this gripping, well-paced and suspenseful thriller. You will be left contemplating your own interactions, both human and computer based, and possibly want to change a few online security settings.
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