From first time director Aneesh Chaganty comes one of the more unique films the summer of 2018 had to offer. While on the surface this mystery thriller seems fairly normal, this film makes its mark by being shot solely on computer, phone, and TV screens, similar to the much less critically renowned Unfriended.
In this film John Cho plays a father named David, whose daughter goes missing after a night out with friends. As he and law enforcement work to find her, he begins to learn that he didn't know her as well as he may have thought. The mystery is played out through video calls and searching through paper trails online, and I have to say it worked really well.
As I said John Cho plays the father at the center of the film, and this is some of the best work I've seen from him. Since he is limited to a computer screen his performance is very enclosed, leaving him little room to work. Despite that he manages to pull off a staggeringly emotional performance, bringing to life a very raw intensity that pays off beautifully as the film progresses. The only other actor with a large speaking role in the film is Debra Messing, who plays the lead detective on the case of David's missing daughter. Messing balances empathy and determinism very well, and the way Chaganty used her character really surprised and impressed me. Some other names with some solid screentime are Joseph Lee as David's brother Peter, and Michelle La as David's daughter Margot. Lee has a small role but makes the most of it, having a strong yet complicated relationship with David that plays out really well. Michelle La isn't in the film much based on the fact that her disappearance is at the center of everything, but when she is on screen she has much like Lee a strong but complicated relationship and chemistry that leads into the heart of the film really well.
I think Chaganty did a really great job not only directing this film but writing it as well. From a direction standpoint he manages to create a lot of emotion both from the actors and the things he shows. The opening scene especially is one that I found near perfect, I was blown away by how he used the style of filmmaking to create such strong and raw emotion. From a writing standpoint I think that when scenes required more dialogue he wrote it well, and in scenes where he didn't need it, Cho's online research was continually very intriguing. The film takes a lot of twists and turns as most mystery thrillers do, and some may see it as an issue, but each one kept me on the edge of my seat with no clue where things were headed. It's tough to talk about the cinematography as there wasn't much camerawork, but the editing was astonishing. From how well the film was cut to how well framed it is to make sure the audience is focusing on what it needs to, this is a big success from an editing standpoint.
This is a unique film that really makes its premise work. What could have been a tired gimmick turned out to be a very effective storytelling device and I was very pleasantly surprised. A great debut from Chaganty and another great performance from John Cho.
Rating: 4.1/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
In this film John Cho plays a father named David, whose daughter goes missing after a night out with friends. As he and law enforcement work to find her, he begins to learn that he didn't know her as well as he may have thought. The mystery is played out through video calls and searching through paper trails online, and I have to say it worked really well.
As I said John Cho plays the father at the center of the film, and this is some of the best work I've seen from him. Since he is limited to a computer screen his performance is very enclosed, leaving him little room to work. Despite that he manages to pull off a staggeringly emotional performance, bringing to life a very raw intensity that pays off beautifully as the film progresses. The only other actor with a large speaking role in the film is Debra Messing, who plays the lead detective on the case of David's missing daughter. Messing balances empathy and determinism very well, and the way Chaganty used her character really surprised and impressed me. Some other names with some solid screentime are Joseph Lee as David's brother Peter, and Michelle La as David's daughter Margot. Lee has a small role but makes the most of it, having a strong yet complicated relationship with David that plays out really well. Michelle La isn't in the film much based on the fact that her disappearance is at the center of everything, but when she is on screen she has much like Lee a strong but complicated relationship and chemistry that leads into the heart of the film really well.
I think Chaganty did a really great job not only directing this film but writing it as well. From a direction standpoint he manages to create a lot of emotion both from the actors and the things he shows. The opening scene especially is one that I found near perfect, I was blown away by how he used the style of filmmaking to create such strong and raw emotion. From a writing standpoint I think that when scenes required more dialogue he wrote it well, and in scenes where he didn't need it, Cho's online research was continually very intriguing. The film takes a lot of twists and turns as most mystery thrillers do, and some may see it as an issue, but each one kept me on the edge of my seat with no clue where things were headed. It's tough to talk about the cinematography as there wasn't much camerawork, but the editing was astonishing. From how well the film was cut to how well framed it is to make sure the audience is focusing on what it needs to, this is a big success from an editing standpoint.
This is a unique film that really makes its premise work. What could have been a tired gimmick turned out to be a very effective storytelling device and I was very pleasantly surprised. A great debut from Chaganty and another great performance from John Cho.
Rating: 4.1/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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