A college student with a terminally ill mother and struggling podcast decides to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a popular classmate. Susie Searches is a dark comedy and borderline sinister thriller on the trappings of social media fixation. The need for belonging and a desperate desire for fame leads a seemingly sympathetic protagonist down a troubling path. The film makes clever use of voiceover narration, reaction shots, and deft camera placement to layer a narrative with twists aplenty. Some you can spot from miles away but the performances and directorial execution are very good.
Susie Wallace (Kiersey Clemons), her face full of braces and her smile so bright, sits at her desk running her true crime podcast. Susie Searches takes on unsolved crimes with an endless amount of enthusiasm. She tells herself that she has something special in store for them all, although there isn’t anyone listening to her except herself. Susie was always able to guess what would happen at the end before everyone else did. In this way, she is just like those flashback scenes showing young Susie reading mystery novels about murders together with her loving mom (Jammie Patton). Her impressed mom flips through pages as she calls out villains.
Susie works as a cashier at a café in her Ohio school’s commissary. Jillian (Rachel Sennott), one obnoxious coworker constantly belittles her while Edgar Cabot—her strange anal-retentive boss Ken Marino sporting ponytail—expects absurd perfection from his minimum wage earning crew members The news that dominates their little town isn’t the burger special though; it’s been over one week since the disappearance of wealthy student followed online by millions.
Jesse (Alex Wolff) had it all — good looks, money, and legions of fans for his YouTube meditation videos. It’s Jesse’s case that Susie fixates on-and nothing else matters now… She volunteers at the police station records unit much to the chagrin of Deputy Graham (David Walton) and Sheriff Loggins (Jim Gaffigan), who is being hammered by the press for failing to locate Jesse. When she gets home, her mother is still sick. Her podcast’s metrics make her more depressed. Only one person liked her most recent episode. She needs larger numbers—fast. Susie decides that she must find Jesse no matter what.
Writer/director Sophia Kargman does a great job of establishing Susie and providing motive for her. The character has no real friends, isn’t taken seriously, and generally is seen as a pest. However, everyone surrounding Susie fails to understand how smart or tenacious she could be. She doesn’t want to be overlooked any longer. This triggers something hidden inside of her; it’s all about validation for Susie. Susie seems like an ordinary person but there is more than meets the eye.
The film’s second act sees a dramatic shift in narrative perspective. It happens just as Susie has always dreamed it would: now she’s a hero with the perfect underdog story! So many people are listening to her podcast now; it’s even gotten way more popular than she ever thought possible! That thing that happened in school last week shows up on national news outlets wanting interviews with this young girl! The president of the institution wants her to become the face of recruitment (Geoffrey Owens). Jillian and Edgar acknowledge that they have underestimated her investigative skills albeit reluctantly. Not everybody though – things are not adding up here with Sheriff Loggins.
Susie Searches features exciting visual device s and therefore becomes more interesting as it goes along . She narrates this story like one of those podcasts’ episodes…a voice over similar to listening while tuning in at your favourite radio station…an explicit explanation of how she approaches detective cases…She wants to show that intelligence combined with determination could crack any case.
Susie’s sudden fame has unexpected implications. The writer Kargman changes his mood to a rough approach. The camera hungrily looks at Susie from various angles as she slowly comes apart at the seams. Additionally, there are funny reaction cut scenes where genuine emotions escape through. Suzy barely holds herself together and her confidence shield starts cracking up.
Initially, you support Susie to triumph over all odds being set against her. She is poor, unpopular and has a sick parent but is feisty. That determination and toughness must be noted in deserving accolades. Soon enough the claps die down after Clemon’s bubbly character becomes shaky with stage fright. When it becomes all about what was once good and motivating, her courage fails utterly as an act of distaste. Susie’s dark flip switches on competing characters as well; she embodies the concept of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Clemons marvels with a complex delivery that insidiously toys with your emotions.
Kargman’s purpose was to sharply criticize the instant culture of fame and sycophancy by social media communities. A carefully constructed façade maintained by algorithms and keywords creates false idols.Jesse’s followership fascinates Susie.Endorphins flow through my veins every time I retweet or someone likes my post.Look at me.I am great! And you think so too.Praise turns into a drug that stokes narcissism.This invariably leads to destructive behavior.It is an increasingly worsening habit loop.Crime does not pay.A couple of tantalizing clues are also given away by Kargman who obviously exhibits expertise and potential as a filmmaker.What happens afterward is somewhat predictable but it hypnotizes us when it comes to this unreliable guide like from Clemons’ standpoint
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