I wasn’t
quite sure what to expect from this movie, whether or not its central conceit
would work as more than a gimmick.
Still, I wasn’t about to turn down an actual #StarringJohnCho, so when
the film came to my local cinema with its wide release, I grabbed the first
showing I could.
When his
teenager daughter Margot goes missing, David is frantic to find answers to her
disappearance in any way he can. Without
much direction or any other recourse, David turns to Margot’s laptop, scouring
her social media, texts, and search history for clues, and he’s hit with the dawning
realization that he doesn’t know his daughter as well as he thought he did, as
her online presence reveals an entirely different side to Margot.
The “hook”
with this film is that it takes place entirely on laptop screens: linked Facetime calls and texts, home videos
on the hard drive, uploaded videos on various platforms, Facebook and Tumblr
posts, emails, tweets, Google searches, and whatnot. As I said, I wasn’t sure what the overall
effect would be, and for the most part, I’d say it works. There are some stretches here and there – I feel
like David Facetimes people way more than the average person, and I think it’d
make sense to change things up and have a phone or other smart device as our “window”
into the scene on occasion, instead of having everything on laptops – but the
technique is surprisingly cinematic. The
clicks and open tabs don’t get in the way of the tension/suspense of the
mystery at all.
It’s a
neat way to follow along on David’s increasingly-desperate quest to figure out
what happened to Margot, and as her disappearance becomes part of the news
cycle (as well as a hashtag,) we’re also treated to the way the media handles
real-life mysteries like this.
Additionally, keeping the film centered on David’s search gives it an
isolating feel. Despite the presence of various
people calling David to offer support or help (including the detective working
on Margot’s case,) we only see them in situations where they’re removed,
separated from David on the other side of a screen.
Given how
it’s put together, it’s a very sort of different film for the cast as
well. For the most part, all the actors
speak directly to the screen, be it for Facetime calls, uploaded streams, or
home movies (although those at least tend to have the benefit of more than one
actor in the same room.) But the script
and the actors are still able to bring their characters and the relationships
between them to bear. In addition to
John Cho’s solid leading performance as David, the movie features relative
newcomer Michelle La as Margot and Debra Messing as Detective Vick.
Warnings
No comments:
Post a Comment