Disconnect (2013)

Touches You

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

Blistering performances.

At heart, Disconnect is drama film with the triggers being provided by modern day social issues such as cyber bullying, identity theft and online chat rooms. The movie starts off by tackling these issues by the way the sequence of events unfold. The storyline follows three threads - A high-school student falling prey to his peers who create a fake profile to mess with him, a journalist who forms a connection with an eighteen year old who performs on adult-only sites and a couple with a troubled past who have their identities stolen by a cyber criminal. What follows is pure drama-fest and does not leave much food for thought for tech enthusiasts except that mistrust of the internet is not a bad thing.From the perspective of a cinema enthusiast, Disconnect is a crisp, well-made film with stellar performances from the cast. The dialogue is simple and never gets too heavy or too light. The story line never gets boring and we do see some pieces of the separate threads come together smoothly reminiscent of movies such as Crash. We don't delve too deep into any of the characters but we empathise with each one of them. This says something about the right balance being struck in providing each character with just enough back story and dialogue. Any gaps in the writing could have only been exposed by bad acting but the cast delivers. Bateman, as always, gives a memorable performance and the child actors too play their roles convincingly. Fashion enthusiasts may recognise Marc Jacobs who plays the role of a pimp to perfection. Disconnect leaves you with the warm feeling of having seen a decent film but from the perspective of a tech enthusiast there is not much scope for thought except to never use your date of birth as your password and maybe research the stats on identity theft. Worth a watch but nothing special.

Modern technologies upgraded our civilization, but also crated a whole series of emotional and humane disruptions, some of which could easily be the end of humans as the dominant species on this planet. ''Disconnect'' cuts itself deep into the psychological consequences of modern technologies and way of life, giving us four separate stories that interconnect at he very end of this highly contemporary movie. Script will also manage to avoid all the traps of pathetic, giving us a much needed bitter-sweet end. ''Disconnect'' is one of the movies for millennials and all the other desiring a meaningful and educative script

I don't often feel prompted to write a review of a film on IMDb but this film was so good that I felt I had to promote it to other film addicts like myself.It is one of those films that really reflect the situation of many people's lives at the time we are living in. Disconnect is a perfect title for summing up the main theme - how people are so wrapped up in what they do and the technology sucking them in that they tend to ignore those who are closest to them, often thinking that nothing is amiss, whereas there are often problems bubbling away beneath the surface.The most striking aspect of the film is the script that really makes it so powerful, which is accompanied by some excellent individual acting performances and very powerful directing. I think the writer and director represent two very promising talents to watch in the years to come.

Cindy (Paula Patton) and Derek Hull (Alexander Skarsgård) are struggling with the lost of their baby. Cindy gets help online while Derek is closed off. They get financially hacked with their identities stolen. They hire former cop Mike Dixon (Frank Grillo) to investigate and he zeroes in on Stephen Schumacher. Mike's son Jason and his friend Frye are pranksters. They start catfishing classmate Ben Boyd. Ben's parents Rich and Lydia (Jason Bateman, Hope Davis) are not connecting with him. Ambitious TV reporter Nina Dunham (Andrea Riseborough) starts chatting with online sex worker Kyle (Max Thieriot) and meets him to do a story. Kyle is part of a group of young and some underage people working online sex. When the FBI shows up, the media company calls up lawyer Rich Dixon.It's a little bit overdramatic at times. These are harrowing tales of lost privacy and disconnected internet connections. The reporter's story is possibly the weakest. The reporter is not that compelling. The catfishing is probably the most powerful. The movie can be overwrought. It goes for the worst case scenario and the audience can't be surprised by any of the turns. The interconnected nature keeps the story moving. The overall feel does leave a disturbed uncomfortable sense. There are some good actors here doing compelling work.