A story told entirely through a character's laptop screen - it's an increasingly popular gimmick that's now been done enough times that it can no longer be called fresh. But, thankfully, this is best execution of the style to date. Aneesh Chaganty dazzles in his directorial debut, displaying a mastery of the medium, crafting a compelling film narrative told entirely through someone's laptop activity.

The movie comes out hot with a mostly nonverbal tale of love and family that's shades of 'Up' and nearly as affecting. An emotionally warping scene like that to kick things off lets us know immediately that we're in good hands. The music choices give a strong signal of this as well. I firmly believe that music choices in the opening minutes of movies are as reliable an indicator of the movie's quality as you'll find.

This moving love story tells that us the family is close, or, at least they were before mom died. Now dad David (John Cho) is raising his daughter Margot (Michelle La) as well he can, but they seem a bit distant. When Margot mysteriously goes missing, he finds out just how little he knows about his daughter.

He and police detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) scramble to find out what happened to Margot - was she kidnapped, catfished, or did she runaway? The work they put in to unravel this mystery is frantic and exhausting. They track Margot's car on traffic cams, they contact all of her Facebook friends, and they dig for anything of use they can find on her laptop. The level of detail displayed in the investigation is so thorough that it's as much an education in snooping as it is entertainment (not that parents should follow these steps to snoop on their own kids!)

It's a constant thrill ride throughout, even as conventional storytelling techniques seep through the cracks at the end when the laptop screen gimmick proves too challenging. One answered question leads to five more unanswered, and a few false endings and twists will leave you breathless. In movies, there are twists and then there are TWISTS. "Searching" has TWISTS. Enjoy.

SEARCHING is an Internet-based thriller with a novel premise: the whle story is told via a computer screen and all of the myriad programs, apps, emails, social media accounts and videos that goes with it. It's not quite original, having already been used for the horror film UNFRIENDED and its sequel UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB, but unlike those two films, this one is actually pretty good. John Cho is fine as the distraught father, putting his Harold & Kumar days long behind him, and the film has a really good pace to keep you watching constantly. There's plenty to say about familial relationships, grief and the facelessness of a modern, Internet-based society, and if it does get increasingly convoluted and mildly ridiculous come the final twist at the climax, it's still a good 'un.

It's the computer screen of David Kim (John Cho) over the years. It documents his life with his loving wife and adorable daughter Margot. They are devastated by the death of his wife. Margot is 16 and there is growing distance between them. When she goes missing, police detective Vick (Debra Messing) investigates.

The computer screen gimmick works for the most part in this movie. The introduction of David's life is touching and his harrowing search for his daughter is very consuming. The movie loses me for awhile when there is an obvious deception which is glossed over. The issue nagged at me and nagged at me even while the investigation goes on. The investigation becomes meaningless until the issue gets re-examined. By that time, the movie rushes to finish and it can't do it with an action sequence like a normal thriller. This is the best example of the computer screen movie but it is still constrained by the concept.