Disconnect (Henry Alex Rubin, 2013): USA

Reviewed by Mitchell Schena. Viewed at the Arlington, Santa Barbara.

Disconnect, filmed by Henry Alex Rubin, is a fiction film that follows 3 separate families and illustrates modern day pain and suffering caused via internet that many go through on a day to day basis. Jason Bateman, who played a concerned father of a neglected-suicidal son, choose to go into the indie world and acted a part not most were used to seeing him perform. With a incredible cast featuring Alexander Skarsgård, Paula Patton, Max Thieriot, and many more, Disconnect takes us on an interesting and emotionally exhausting journey that makes one really contemplate the power of modern day technology. Skarsgård who played Derek, a war veteran who’s fighting and battling to keep his identity from being stolen with his wife Cindy (played by Paula Patton), really did an incredible job of making this role seem convincing. Both Skarsgård and Patton did an outstanding performance of portraying the hardship that can easily happen to anyone with identity theft. Jason Bateman’s character deals with his son Ben, played by Jonah Bobo, who is a independent teen ager who is passionate about music and really doesn’t have many friends. Ben feels as if his father no longer cares for him, as well as the rest of the world. Two kids from school notice Ben, and decide to create a fake Facebook account of a girl to try to humiliate him publicly. Jonah for being such a young actor surprisingly did a well done job of playing someone with so much interior pain.

Max Thieriot who plays a twenty something online “entertainer” named Kyle took on a lot with this role and absolutely nailed it. Kyle makes his living by removing his clothes via web and having others pay to watch through the web cam. After being discovered by reporter Nina, played by Andrea Riseborough, Kyle begins to question his future with his boss (surprising cameo by Mark Jacobs)  and how long he can continue to do this. The cinematography was excellent during this film for example a slow motion scene, that had such a dramatic impact on the audience, showed all three stories somewhat at their breaking point with such violence and passion from the actors that it was impossible to look away. This film does a great job of purely intimidating the audience of possibilities that can occur through internet and text messaging. The concept of this movie is an excellent one that would be sure to win a few awards from some festivals, but i could hardly see this film pulling in major revenue through the box office. However, this story did leave an impact on me as I was exiting the theatre, making me ponder about what happened next with the characters. I suppose that’s what Rubin intended to do. I would have to say though, I give this film 2 thumbs up.