Pacho Velez‘s Searchers is an intimate study that reflects on people and their online dating habits, now playing at the 52nd Visions du Réel.
Halfway through the 52nd Visions du Réel (International Film Festival Nyon, Switzerland), taking place in a hybrid format, from April 15th to 25th 2021, we are enjoying this year’s lineup and discovering more cutting edge documentaries. After flagging Don’t Hesitate To Come For A Visit, Mom, directed by Anna Artemyeva, another title deserves to be credited for its originality and interest: Searchers, directed by Pacho Velez, and playing in the Burning Lights competition of the Switzerland-based festival.
I had the opportunity to discover Searchers, a vivacious and light documentary on a modern-day trend, that was previously an official selection at Sundance 2021. With intimacy and respect, director Pacho Velez and his team navigate New York City and ask its inhabitants to talk about their experiences with online dating opportunities. As a result of the pandemic, it turns out that people are more drawn to meet people through the internet and the urge of using dating apps seems to be encouraged, which makes the film highly relevant and contemporary.
The film starts with an introduction of two young men mumbling some “yes” and some “no” with intensely focused eyes on the camera. The premise of the film appears troubling, giving off no clues on what the documentary is really about. A translucent image of what seems to look like the Tinder interface appears before the two young men’s eyes. The unusual way of including the spectator behind the application interface made the film’s subject crystal clear.
Over the course of the film, we witness the use of the same setup : people watching the camera and a translucent image of an application or a conversation appears before their eyes. Each interviewed character is introduced with their name and age written at the bottom of the shot, they share what they are looking for, to the director. Some are looking for one night stands while some others are pursuing a serious relationship. Since the people are looking directly into the camera, we feel its presence quite easily and as a spectator, I could sometimes feel I was a part of the conversation. The setup consisting of the dating application platform in transparency gives off an impression of a friendship with the characters, and makes us want to participate in their swiping and conversation.
Presenting people from all ages, races and sexual orientations, Searching tries to grasp a good representation of New York City’s population and voices ; however, since people seem to be always eager to meet someone to have fun with or to build a life together, this documentary topic is largely relatable to a wide world population. With a simple talking head situation, the director gives the space to the different protagonists to speak about their approach to dating, they are talking spontaneously and in a friendly way. I am not a fan of talking heads that are over-used in documentaries, but Searching succeeds in reclaiming this apparatus and makes it reflect with the subject with deeper sense. Dating is an intimate and personal subject and director Pacho Velez manages to bring an even more intimate touch to the film by showing his own vulnerability and including his mother in the documentary : he subscribes to a dating application and shares his insecurities about dating at his age. By approaching a light subject, the continuous conversation in the film leads to more rarely discussed topics such as ageism in dating. Online dating has become more and more mainstream over the last few years, it questions entirely our tradition, chivalry, monogamy and fidelity, shifting the view that we have on relationships and our idea of romantic interactions.
With compassion and respect, Searching is a largely relatable documentary that gives the space for ordinary people to share their dating experiences ans habits. Reminding me videos from popular Youtube channels such as Cut or Jubilee, Searchers manages to go deeper into people’s feelings. By using talking heads his way, director Pacho Velez includes the spectator into the discussion. He ends up delivering an intimate and accessible documentary that we should all watch to reflect on our own usage of online dating applications.
