Disconnect (2012)
THE SCOOP
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Cast: Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Jonah Bobo, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton
Plot: A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today's wired world.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Awards: -
Runtime: 115min
Rating: M18 for sexual content, some graphic nudity, language, violence and drug use - some involving teens.
IN RETROSPECT
Wires connect us to one another. We live in a wired world, yet we feel
disconnected. Therein lies one of the
great ironies of the 21st century, a time and space characterized by widespread
digitization and digitalization. While
it gives us democratic access to the freedom of thought, a (dis)connected world
hides our true intentions yet revealing our true selves to ourselves.
Disconnect, a multilayered narrative in the vein of Paul Haggis' Crash (2005), calls into question the
efficacy of communicating via a screen interface, and suggests reconciliation
for a better future.
Featuring an ensemble cast whose names I will skip for it
will fill an entire paragraph, Disconnect
works well within its flaws. It is a
film whose sum is lesser than its parts, though its parts are strongly
developed and receive near equal treatment.
The picture feels more confident exploring individual
stories, rather than achieving some kind of grand gesture of intertwining fates
and circumstances. As a result, Disconnect slightly pales in comparison
to films such as the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu multinarrative features (i.e. Amores Perros, 2000; 21 Grams, 2003; Babel, 2006) and Haggis' Oscar-winning film.
Writer Andrew Stern provides a screenplay of uncommon depth,
in particular using text to convey a range of emotions and thoughts. The cinema screen temporarily becomes an
additional interface as text rolls off its flat, audience-addressing
surface.
Something as intimate as an online instant chat between two
parties becomes known to hundreds of cinemagoers, highlighting the double-edged
sword nature of the medium - for better or worse, everything and everyone is
connected to each other.
Director Henry Alex Rubin brings all the elements together,
formulating a dramatic feature that shifts gears into a pseudo-thriller that
doesn't quite work out. When everything
inevitably comes together, the implosion of emotions such as anger,
frustration, helplessness, guilt and regret resonate in a diluted manner.
In other words, the cross-cutting impact of the various
stories is muted. However, Disconnect remains engaging for most
parts, if not for the characters, then for the performances.
GRADE: B
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