Disconnect

Dramas with incredible messages-- you gotta love 'em. Films that can 'talk' to its audience are something that will never be considered passe, because we are, or should want to be constantly learning to be a better species. After seeing the film, "Crash" back in 2005, I thought it was incredibly presented in a way that forced people to think about their perceptions of others. Well, I must say, Disconnect" does the same, and the outcome is quite sobering.

A hard-working attorney, Rich Boyd (Jason Bateman), attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his family. A couple, Cindy and Derek Hull (Paula Patton and Alexander Skarsgard), is drawn into a dangerous situation when their secrets are exposed online. A widowed ex-cop, Mike Dixon (Frank Grillo), struggles to raise a mischievous son, Jason (Colin Ford) who cyber-bullies a classmate with disastrous results. An ambitious journalist, Nina Dunham (Andrea Riseborough), sees a career-making story in a teen, Kyle (Max Thieriot) that performs on an adult-only website.
They are strangers, neighbors and colleagues and their stories collide in this riveting dramatic thriller about ordinary people struggling to connect in today's wired world, but as they strive to connect, their disconnection continues to rear its ugly head.

Others to round out the cast are Hope Davis as Lydia Boyd, wife of Rich's, Michael Nyqvist as Stephen Schumacher, Nina's boss, Jonah Bobo as Ben Boyd, son of Rich and Lydia, Haley Ramm as Abby Boyd, daughter of Rich and Lydia, Norbert Leo Butz as Peter, Kasi Lemmons as Roberta Washington, John Sharian as Ross Lynd, and Aviad Bernstein as Frye, Jason's buddy.

This was incredibly well paced by director Henry Alex Rubin ("Who is Henry Jaglom?"   (Documentary) '97, "Murderball" (Documentary) '05). This guy only has documentaries under his belt as feature films, yet this film simply exuded just the right amount of dramatic upheaval to make it that much more realistic. If this is his first feature film, I'd really like to see how he does with more work to his name. This was equally well written by Andrew Stern ("Return to Me" (story) 2000, "Nurses" (TV movie) '07). As with Rubin, this guy doesn't have a ton of experience to his name, but this film connected so well from story to story with that inevitable connection later on. 

This is not a warm and fuzzy feeling film, but those films to teach us something usually are not, otherwise we have a tendency to not get the hint. The fact that we don't connect as a society is certainly evident, so the filmmakers need to hit us where it hurts, and with this one, it succeeds in spades.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                        Rated: R                        115mins.