Director Aneesh Chaganty’s 2018 feature directorial debut, Searching, was a real hidden gem—not just for its superb “screenlife” storytelling—but for its thrilling personal narrative led by a great performance from John Cho. Now, even with Chaganty stepping back into a writing and producing role, Searching’s indirect sequel, Missing, contains nearly all the greatness of its predecessor.
The film follows June (Storm Reid), a teenager who has a fractured relationship with her mother, Grace (Nia Long), after the death of her father, James (Tim Griffin). After Grace and her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung) go on a vacation to Colombia, June is tasked with picking them up from the airport, but they don’t come home. As June digs deeper into the details of their disappearance, she also uncovers chilling buried secrets about Kevin and her mother. With June now determined to find the truth, she falls into a greater conspiracy that puts her own life on the line.
Just like Searching, Missing further proves that this style of screenlife storytelling is incredibly engaging and effective. The versatility of the internet makes for some very creative uses of common websites and tools for detective work. With the help of the service website Taskrabbit, June is essentially able to hire her own Private Eye in Colombia to aid her search. Her use of location trackers like Grace and Kevin’s Google accounts and vacation livestreams help her create a path of their last whereabouts. It’s honestly just cool to see her use a simple notes app as a detective pad, where she takes lots of notes about what she’s discovering.
There’s just something so intriguing about being in a world that’s so technologically aware and interested in exploring and utilizing different parts of the internet for a mystery-thriller. Although a lot of June’s actions require some suspension of disbelief because of how wildly inventive she is with the internet, it’s incredibly captivating to watch. Also, you’re seeing every second of it unfolding on-screen, so you rarely feel lost in what June is doing. Her use of a smart watch also shows how savvy and creative she is, making you instantly like her. Missing is near-perfect display of this screenlife concept being a remarkably deep and innovative storytelling tool.
Reid’s performance is also a key part in Missing being an engaging experience. The entire cast delivers great performances and the film definitely finds moments for key characters to shine. However, Reid’s performance is on another level and she definitely embodies the heart of this film. The sense of determination and undying care she brings to June’s search to find her mother is perfect. Every time June discovers some terrifying truth about those around her, Reid makes you feel it all crashing down on her. There are also some subtle moments that show June’s lingering feelings about her father’s death and poor relationship with her mom that Reid excels with. It’s probably one of her best performances to date, possibly even her best, and is a big reason why Missing puts viewers on an emotional rollercoaster.
The best part of Missing, though, is its story, as it confidently takes viewers into a wild conspiracy thrill ride that constantly turns up the heat. Each new discovery adds a whole new layer to June and the audience’s perspective on things and there are some shocking revelations that are mind-blowing. These characters are dissected excellently and in a well-paced fashion to let the tension simmer until it becomes a roaring boil. The information trickles in at a steady pace to leave viewers in the dark long enough to be shocked when the truth is suddenly revealed. Some of the interpersonal story threads shown, like June’s dynamic with her tasker Javier (Joaquim de Almeida), also keep you emotionally invested in Missing’s story.
Plus, there are surprise callbacks to Searching that might be a little corny in execution but are ones that fans will still love. The only place the film kind of falters a bit is in its finale, as viewers can definitely become overwhelmed by the overload of final act twists that come off a little far-fetched. Yet, it all still culminates in a thrilling finale that leaves you clutching your seat.
Missing is a great follow-up to Searching that manages to tell its own unique mystery through the very strong screenlife style and really rattle viewers’ brains through its wild twists and turns. Reid is phenomenal throughout and the central story is exactly the kind of conspiracy thrill ride that viewers want to be immersed into.
