Searching (2018)

Okay, it's a day late but this is much more of a Dad Movie than Eaten Alive, so Happy Father's Day.  This was a neat concept and I know there's a follow-up that is similar but not a sequel, but I don't know if it's worth it.  I think this plays better as a one-off gimmick.

David (John Cho) has had trouble connecting with his teenaged daughter Margot (Michelle La) after the death of her mother (Sara Sohn) but he has no idea how much trouble until Margot goes missing.  He is suddenly faced with the realization that Margot has become a stranger as he begins to comb through her online life to help the lead detective (Debra Messing) establish a timeline of her last known whereabouts.

The movie is told exclusively through the screens of computers, smartphones, and digital cameras.  It mostly works, although as an audience member, I never felt immersed.  The screen becomes a shield, another layer between the viewer and the actors, which may have been what the director was going for, that dispassionate sense that we as internet users have, that it's less real somehow.  Maybe not.  Maybe it was just a gimmicky thing like Smell-O-Vision.  

I think it worked even better than Unfriended but that's a personal opinion.  Your mileage may vary.  It's currently streaming on Starz, which I get through Amazon.