Most of the Hollywood films take the standard approach of storytelling and we as the audience too has gotten used to it. But once in a while comes a director who dares to take a different approach and change the way we see and consume the movie.
The Blair Witch Project took a Handycam approach and as we know was a very successful experiment. Paranormal Activity too was one of the movies that took a security cam approach in telling the story and worked really well ( at least the first movie was good).
As a cinephile, I have always liked the new and fresh approach of storytelling as it infuses new energy in the routine story.
The experiment doesn’t always work well. Hardcore Henry was again an experiment which was entirely a first-person shooter movie. Although the approach was refreshing, I felt dizzy and uncomfortable watching it. Also what didn’t help was the paper thin storyline.
So when I saw the trailer of the movie Searching, I was not sure if it would be good or just a gimmick. What further added to my skepticism was the director Aneesh Chaganty who was a debutant director.
But all of those concerns vapourised in the first 10 min of the movie.
So the story is pretty simple. It is about David Kim whose daughter Margot goes missing one day and now he has to use her computer and social media to search her whereabouts.
This movie is entirely shown through computer screen & webcam. The computer screen shows us the navigation from different social media websites like facebook, twitter, etc.
The reason I feel the new approach works fantastic for this storyline is that the way the Protagonist uses different sources on internet & social media, somewhere we could see ourselves in him. It is the same way we use these platforms on our system or mobile phones.
The opening scene shows the entire backstory of David, his wife, and daughter through photos stored in different albums on the computer. What a brilliant way to show a backstory.
Even the music and the keypad sounds have been used so effectively that it adds to the suspense & drama.
Another mindblowing technique used here is pauses while typing. So as we all know when we pause before typing and you just see the rectangular bar blinking we know it happens either when we are thinking or confused. So when Director Aneesh Chaganty shows us the blinking bar our brain automatically tells us that the character is thinking or confused.
The approach is fresh and unique but they have not compromised on storytelling. In fact, the very use of this approach accentuates the story and makes it even more effective. The story is an emotional thriller and we as an audience feel it.
Debutant director Aneesh Chaganty has proved that he is a talented director and the one to look out for and I for one am looking forward to what will he bring next.
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