"Disconnect" could easily be compared to films like "The Place Beyond the Pines" or "Crash". It features actors you recognize as characters whose lives interconnect. Where "Disconnect" succeeds over the failures of "Pines" and "Crash" is that it is a dark, realistic depiction of these intersecting lives that doesn't once think low of its audience. There are several moments where "Disconnect" could have gone the easy route. It could have given you what you expect or in many cases simply "fear". Instead, it is a riveting, gripping film about how technology has pulled us away from the people who are around us. In one particularly touching scene the character says "Everything I love is in this room". This somewhat cliche line is made important by it being one of the few moments that character is seen without a cell phone.
"Disconnect" revolves around three stories. The first involves two teenagers (Aviad Bernstein and Colin Ford) creating a fake online character they use to tease Ben, a loner student (Jonah Bobo) who goes to their school. Ben's father, Rich (Jason Bateman) is unaware of his son's blossoming "relationship" as he constantly on the cell phone doing business. The second story involves reporter Nina Dunham (Andrea Riseborough) who begins to interview Kyle, an 18-year old online "sex webcam" performer (Max Thieriot), in hopes of putting together a juicy story based on his life. What starts off as online web chat interviews becomes much more as Nina tries to get the story that is Kyle's life. The last has couple Derek and Cindy (Alexander Skarsgård and Paula Patton) dealing with online identity theft which leaves them penniless. Derek is addicted to online poker while Cindy frequents chat rooms to help her deal with the grief of losing her child.
Films like "Disconnect" could implode on themselves with their overly weighty premise and meaning. The idea of technology pulling people apart is not a terribly new thing to film. 2006's totally unseen gem "LOL" dealt with characters whose relationships were ruined by technology. While "Disconnect" is often about how technology can have a negative impact on human interaction, it is never so over-the-top that it becomes eye-rolling. This is the kind of message that can get self-indulgent very quickly. "Disconnect" never feels like it is straining with the story and the message. It does not bash you over the head. It weaves the dangers of technology into real weighty human problems. This story is much more about human interaction than it is about those humans typing on keypads.
Director Henry Alex Rubin makes his fictional film debut here. He directed 2005's wonderful documentary Murderball (whose star Mark Zuban makes a brief appearance). Rubin shows great skill being able to weave these stories together in a sharp fashion considering the film's no-doubt low budget. He shows wonderful restraint when he needs to as well as impacting and suspenseful moments when they are called for. Again, Rubin and screenwriter Andrew Stern, need to be congratulated on how they were able to side-step many of the problems inherent in stories like "Crash" and "Place Beyond the Pines". There is not one "eye-rolling" moment in "Disconnect". It constantly surprises you not just in the directions the story takes but the directions that it does not take.
"Disconnect" is a small film that will no doubt not be playing in many markets. Hopefully, the inevitable appearance on Netflix Instant will result in people seeing this gem that will no doubt be one of the best of the year.
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