Editor's Note: The following contains Missing spoilers.Missing is a tense and twisty thriller that takes a measured look at the digital age we live in today, and how that can often be a double-edged sword. It also serves as a spiritual sequel of sorts to the 2018 film Searching, though the plot is an inverse of its predecessor. Where Searching featured a father (John Cho) searching for his missing daughter, Missing has teenager June (Storm Reid) attempting to find the whereabouts of her missing mother (Nia Long). In the process, she uncovers a wealth of family secrets.
Missing and Searching also share creative DNA behind the scenes. Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty, the director and co-writers of Searching respectively, came up with the story for Missing and also serve as executive producers on the film. Searching editors Nick Johnson & Will Merrick are also responsible for bringing Missing to life, as they make their directorial debuts in addition to penning the screenplay. But the connections between the two films run deeper than that.
'Missing' Picks Up 'Searching's Alien News Story Breadcrumbs
Throughout Searching, Cho's character delves deep into every corner of the internet to find his daughter. This includes the usual sites like Facebook and Twitter, alongside some...darker corners of the web. Throughout his search he finds continued mentions of an invading race from the stars, with NASA reportedly discovering an alien spacecraft coming from the Earth and the President deciding to make an announcement about it. Ohanian said that the idea came partly from "trying to tell a massive Hollywood-style alien story using only snippets of news articles, or Facebook comments, or hashtags" and that storyline is followed up in a huge way during Missing.
As June searches for her mother, there are multiple news stories and hashtags dedicated to a mysterious figure called the "Green Angel". The Angel appears to have superhuman abilities and was responsible for fending off the alien invasion. In fact, people speculate that the Angel may have even gotten their abilities from the invaders. Ohanian said that much like in Searching, he intended to have an entirely new narrative. "It has all the exact same story beats that you would see in any Marvel movie, it just is happening in the corners," he told /Film during an interview. One has to wonder what a third film would do.
In 'Missing,' (True) Crime Doesn't Pay
Searching is also directly referenced in the film's opening credits - in a rather hilarious way. June turns out to be a huge fan of a fictional Netflix series called Unfiction, which takes a look at criminal cases in the vein of the Serial podcast. The episode she's watching in the beginning is more or less covering the events of Searching, albeit with different actors and a rather outlandish ending. Unfiction is also referenced throughout the show, as June and her best friend Veena (Megan Suri) have an argument about how her mother's case is starting to resemble the show. Not only is this a subtle dig at how the true crime case often makes drama out of real people's lives, but it ends up playing into the climax when June finally finds her mother. An episode of Unfiction is made about their ordeal, which features Jasmine Savoy Brown playing the fictional version of June!
Ultimately, both Missing and Searching are a great way to look into the double-edged sword of technology, as well as greatly constructed thrillers. And should a third film be made, the filmmakers will no doubt find a way to tie it into the events of these first two films.
Missing is currently playing in theaters.
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