Disconnect (Rubin, 2012): USA

 Reviewed by Larry Gleeson.  Viewed at the Arlington Theatre,  Opening Night of the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival,Thursday, January 24, 2013, at 8:00 P.M. Disconnect tells the story of three groups of people in today’s internet-savvy society, and their sometimes known and sometimes unknown quest for answers and ultimately a feeling of connectedness in an attempt at an interconnected storyline. Jason Bateman and Hope Davis portray a successful couple with two children; one, a rather popular girl the other a loner who is developing musical skills in mixing music via the internet. Unfortunately, the son falls prey to cyber bullying by two classmates one of who’s father is an IT expert specializing in criminal fraudulent internet activity. The son becomes so vilified and disconnected he seeks an escape. Frank Grillo plays the internet investigator who has recently lost his wife and seems to blame his son, who is one of the cyber bullies, for the loss of his wife. Mike takes a gig investigating a recent bank fraud case for Derek and Cindy Hall who are experiencing marital problems after recently losing their son have also been the victims of a financial crime that has drained their bank savings account. The culprit of the bank fraud looks like a man Cindy has befriended through a mutual support group. And finally, Andrea Riseborough plays a investigative reporter who’s come across an underage teen boy who works for an online cyber sex service and convinces the boy to go on camera for an expose on underage cyber sex. The boy likes what he does and he also develops feelings for Riseborough’s character. After establishing characters the film moves along at a  nice pace until the proverbial gunk hits the fan. Rubin makes it seem as if the sky is falling as we see the disintegration of all the lives we’ve subjected to watching. Several physical altercations take place one of which is self inflicted or self-imposed. The film closes out and we see a family reconnected around a tragic incident, the cyber sex teen hitting the road with his band of internet sex workers as their house dad has been tipped off about an impending raid. Derek and Cindy end up back in each other’s arms and Mike, the cop, saves his son from taking a much more severe beating than the broken arm he receives from Bateman’s character. Riseborough’s reporter takes a shot to the head and face falling to the ground only to recover and regain her stability. I liked the film overall. I found it difficult to fathom that these stories were interrelated. Nevertheless, the acting was top notch with Bateman showing the relentless father searching for answers to his son’s suicide attempt, with Alexander Skarsgard pursuing the criminal who stole his money and who coincidentally had become Skarsgard’s character’s wife’s confidant, and Riseborough pushing the limits of ethical conduct as she seduces the male teen to sit for the camera and share his experiences as a cyber sex worker and the life he’s now leading due to his career choice. Overall, the film’s strength is its acting and the musical score developed by Max Richter add emotionally pleasing backdrop for what we see. Overall, the film’s an interesting story and a few cinematic techniques like the sound of incoming facebook messages pinging mobile iPhones, seeing typed text messages flashed across the screen in real time, and the rapidity by which a high school teen’s reputation can be maligned instantaneously add to its appeal. Recommended.