I saw that Alpha movie, and it was pretty good. I didn't realize that Leonor Varela was playing the Shaman who presided over all the rituals. She played the original Marta in Arrested Development, season 1. Since I have the AMC subscription, I could rewatch it, I guess. Nice that they thought to give that role to a woman rather than making the society totally patriarchal.
I also saw Searching finally on Saturday, and really enjoyed it. I love the way they planted clues throughout the movie, as well as red herrings to keep you guessing. It felt like a real mystery, like I've been missing for so long, in this age of countless serial killers and psychopaths that have no logic for their evil. I highly recommend seeing it.
SPOILERS BELOW
Early on, I did feel that it was weird for Detective Vick to tell David that he should help in the investigation by calling all the friends and questioning them about where they were and when they last saw Margot. Surely that's part of the ground work that should be done by the police? Shouldn't she just have asked him for the list of names, and then she'd do that work or assign it to uniformed officers? But I finally just shrugged this off as part of the gimmick of the movie, that David would do this part. And Vick did say later that she let him do it because they'd lost so much time when he thought Margot was camping with friends.
I did get suspicious about the video confession of the guy who suddenly turned up dead, because I thought maybe the guy was giving a false confession for media attention. Then Vick mentioned the hoax possibility but immediately dismissed it by saying they found trace evidence of him in the area of the lake. But again, I kept thinking, "Maybe he just lives at the lake, but he wasn't actually involved in the crime. He just wants to be part of the drama like the classmate pretending to be best friends with Margot."
Finally, finally, we got to the true solution, starting with that picture of Hannah; I thought David was just stunned, but it actually took him a while to remember where he had seen that redhead's picture from before. Once he found out that she was not in on the crime and had not been contacted by police to provide any alibi, then it made me wonder why Vick would lie about clearing up that lead. Then of course it snowballed from there, but even after the dramatic arrest, it took a while to hear her confession and realize that she'd been covering up for her son Robert.
It makes you see the whole movie in a new light. Knowing that Vick is obstructing the investigation and NOT following up leads, it makes more sense that she'd be okay with letting David do that grunt work at the beginning. She was too busy trying to work up her runaway theory and steer him away from fish-n-chips. That's why she kept pushing the runaway angle even after the car was found in the lake. It's why, when Vick berated David for beating up the teenager and told him to stop investigating, she was so upset. She wasn't just afraid of her job and getting into trouble for letting the parent get too involved in the case. She was upset because Robert's a teen boy too, and she doesn't want her kid to get beat up or thrown in jail if he's discovered. She's just way too protective of him and making excuses for him, like maybe that mom with the affluenza teen who killed people. I definitely want to see this again so I can realize what she was really doing the whole time.
I really enjoy mysteries where the solution actually makes sense, and doesn't feel like just a random psycho did it for no reason. Very satisfied with this film.
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