Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Search

Play trailer Poster for The Search 2014 2h 29m Drama War Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
20% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A 9-year-old orphan (Abdul Khalim Mamatsuiev) and a Russian soldier (Maxim Emelianov) encounter the horrors of war.
The Search

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Though well-intentioned, The Search has the timbre of a soporific lecture on the horrors of the Second Chechen War and is delivered with the subtlety of an RPG.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (20) Critics Reviews
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail The French director's follow-up to his Oscar-winning silent movie comedy, The Artist, is everything The Artist was not: long, unoriginal and heavy-handed. Rated: 2/4 Mar 12, 2015 Full Review Peter Howell Toronto Star Young Hadji's silence gives The Search what lasting power it possesses. Rated: 2/4 Mar 12, 2015 Full Review Radheyan Simonpillai NOW Toronto After winning the Oscar for his glorified trinket The Artist, Hazanavicius throws a spotlight on human rights horrors. His well-intentioned children-in-peril story, set during the second Chechen war, is periodically moving but unwieldy and heavy-handed. Rated: 2/5 Mar 12, 2015 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com The film has a clear political and conscientious bent, but it does it in such a clumsy, obvious, didactic, boring and manipulative way that the artistic result is disappointing... [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 1.5/5 Jun 22, 2023 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com The Search is an ungainly dose of good intentions that undercooks and over bakes. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 30, 2019 Full Review Blake Williams Cinema Scope The Search is what happens when winning awards supersedes making cinema. Nov 18, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (10) audience reviews
Audience Member Stunning movie not for the faint of heart. Someone plodding yet engaging and like any good European movie It develops slowly.... yet Once you're in you're hooked. This is the collateral damage of War on the soul of humanity. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member I agree the film may be biased against the Russians, but isn't that the way the West treats the Russians all along? Great performance from the little kid. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Thought it would be boring. Despite melodramatic, it's kinda effective. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member The Search captures the brutality and horrors of war while succumbing to heavy handed storytelling that amounts to an exhaustive, dreary film. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member No es el mejor trabajo de Michel Hazanavicius. Llena de facilismos, y un drama sin profundidad plagado de clichés, este trabajo merece quedarse guardado en el cajón del olvido. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Remember the light-hearted fantastical film that was The Artist? Well forget it if you're going to see this movie. From the same director comes one of the most depressing and heavy movies I've ever seen. Following a family separated during the second Chechen war in 1999, we see young orphaned children try to find each other while also completing the more difficult task of staying alive. In a parallel plot we witness a young Russian soldier as he is trained and dehumanized until he is left with no humanity. (Full review: http://onthedl.ca/blog/default/view/402/) Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Search

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Beasts of No Nation 91% 92% Beasts of No Nation Watchlist TRAILER for Beasts of No Nation 5 Days of War 35% 36% 5 Days of War Watchlist The Situation 35% 58% The Situation Watchlist Hyena Road 57% 60% Hyena Road Watchlist TRAILER for Hyena Road Bless Me, Ultima 69% 73% Bless Me, Ultima Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A 9-year-old orphan (Abdul Khalim Mamatsuiev) and a Russian soldier (Maxim Emelianov) encounter the horrors of war.
Director
Michel Hazanavicius
Producer
Michel Hazanavicius, Thomas Langmann
Screenwriter
Michel Hazanavicius
Production Co
Search Production, Orange Studio, La Petite Reine, France 3 Cinéma, Sarke Studio, La Classe Américaine, Wild Bunch
Genre
Drama, War
Original Language
French (France)
Runtime
2h 29m