“Screenlife” is a term used to describe a newish format for movies, in which the story is told entirely via images on a computer screen. Things like Google searches or scrolling through social media, or maybe FaceTime or Zoom calls become vehicles for unfolding plot, character, and all the features of a cinematic drama.

Recently, on a whim I watched what is considered to be the most successful of such films, Searching by director Aneesh Chaganty, and starring John Cho and Debra Messing.

Cho plays David Kim, a man who has lost his wife to cancer–a bit of backstory that is related via an effective montage of home movies that someone is looking at on a computer. That opening reminded me a bit of Up, as it does a great job making David’s relationship with his wife and her death feel meaningful to the audience in very short amount of time. The movie then jumps to the “present”, at which David is struggling to raise his daughter Margot on his own. His world is turned upside down when she mysteriously disappears after a night out studying, and we get into the story proper.

I am not always the biggest fans of “gimmicky” filmmaking just because I think that even if the gimmick is impressively done, it’s often more distracting than anything else. But having said that, I was really impressed by Searching. It managed to be immersive and emotionally meaningful. It paints a compelling picture of the relationship between David and Margot, and grips us with the father’s increasing desperation as his search drags on, and each new piece of evidence that is uncovered makes it look less and less likely that his daughter will be found alive.

It also tells a good mystery with a number of interesting reveals about what is really going on, and an effective final twist related to what has actually happened.

Of course, the format does require a few things that are not completely believable. David talks to almost everybody via FaceTime calls on his computer, and then tends to leave his camera on for ages even after the calls are over, so the computer can continue to “see” what he is up to. This is a similar issue that comes up with all “found footage” movies, where all the footage you are watching has supposedly got some in-story reason for existing, but it’s a pretty minor quibble when measured against how effective the story they tell ends up being.

Having enjoyed Searching, I later watched Missing, which is less of a sequel than just another similar movie.

It’s written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, who edited the first movie, based on a story by the first movie’s writers (Chaganty and Sev Ohanian). This time around the movie stars Storm Reid as teenager June Allen whose single mother fails to come home from an overseas trip with her new boyfriend. She is understandably concerned and jumps into a whole gamut of internet searches, FaceTime calls, scanning through social media accounts and repeated efforts to crack passwords to figure out what has happened to her mother and who is responsible.

In a lot of ways there’s a bit of a “second verse, same as the first” vibe with Missing, with a lot that feels similar to Searching. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Searching was not just a decent thriller but an effective mystery, with twists and revelations that kept me guessing and kept me engaged. And arguably, in this way anyway, Missing is even stronger.

I wouldn’t say it’s better in how emotionally grounded it is–David Park’s relationship with his daughter in Searching is the most meaningful one there is in either movie–but the surprises baked into Missing’s plot are genuinely terrific, and which are very different from those in Searching. There are two or three plot twists that powerfully escalated the situation and got me to lean in and lock into the story in a deeper way. These are scattered through the whole movie, all the way to the end with how June deals with her final challenge–I genuinely loved it.

Missing also has a nice supporting performance from Joaquim de Almeida as a Colombian odd-jobs guy who becomes June’s ally in her search. He was a really fun addition to the film.

So yeah, both Searching and Missing come with strong recommendations from me. I don’t necessary want to see tons of movies like this, but if they can be done as effectively I guess I don’t mind.

As a side note, I haven’t watched Prime Video’s recent screenlife version of War of the Worlds, which notably has achieved an impressive 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m not interested in watching it, but there was a very funny Pitch Meeting from Ryan George that is definitely worth looking at. You can see it here: