{"id":24116,"date":"2013-01-31T09:56:23","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T17:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=24116"},"modified":"2013-01-31T10:10:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T18:10:22","slug":"disconnect-henry-alex-rubin-2012-usa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=24116","title":{"rendered":"Disconnect (Henry-Alex Rubin, 2012): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Jacob Dekke<\/a>r. \u00a0Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013.<\/p>\n

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Digital technologies have taken a central role in the modern world. \u00a0There are very few people who are not connected to the rest of the world through their cell phones, social networking sites, and other forms of digital communication. \u00a0Henry Alex Rubin’s narrative debut\u00a0Disconnect (2012) starring Jason Bateman and Paula Patton explores the negative effects our rapidly evolving community can have on people, and how this lack of face-to-face communications leave some people disconnected with the rest of the world.\u00a0 Rubin\u00a0wrestles with\u00a0the question:\u00a0 Can digital communications ever replace face-to-face interactions?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0narrative of the film is similar to that of Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004). \u00a0The film consists three main interconnected plots\u00a0that are loosely connected. \u00a0All\u00a0three of these arcs deal with slightly different issues related to\u00a0technological\u00a0dependence.\u00a0 Jason Bateman tries to reconnect with his son and family when things take a turn for the worse, Paula Patton follows her husband (Alexander Skarsgard) on a wild goose chase to find their identity thief, and Andrea Riseborough tries to connect with a male webcam stripper.<\/p>\n

Some of these stories were stronger and more fleshed out than others, but for the most part the film is very engaging, climactic, and well-paced. \u00a0And thanks to the solid\u00a0performances by the entire cast\u00a0not once did I find myself at a loss of interest. \u00a0The main draw for most people and probably the most well known actor\u00a0is Jason Bateman. \u00a0At first it was a little disorienting seeing him in a more serious role, but he pulls it off beautifully and convincingly. \u00a0However, I found the standout\u00a0performance\u00a0 to be young Colin Ford. \u00a0Despite being a bully he manages to get the audience emotionally invested in his character without relying too much on cliques one would expect to find in a role similar to his.<\/p>\n

The cinematography and editing is something that should also not go unnoticed.\u00a0 Ken Seng (cinematographer) did a great job behind the camera.\u00a0 His organic\u00a0frame in frame shots do a great job of making the subject and viewer\u00a0feel isolated and trapped in the world that Henry-Alex Rubin has created.\u00a0 The three way\u00a0cross cutting between the protagonists is also masterfully done.\u00a0 Keeping a plot engaging while juggling three loosely related stories is no easy feat and Lee Percy pulls it off with finesse.<\/p>\n

The film was very powerful and emotional.\u00a0 For better or worse it made me reflect on my use and dependence of digital technologies and communications.\u00a0 Even though this is not the kind of film you will want to watch over and over again, due to some heavy subject matter, it is definitely one you should not miss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Jacob Dekker. \u00a0Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013. Digital technologies have taken a central role in the modern world. \u00a0There are very few people who are not connected to the rest of the world through their cell phones, social networking sites, and other forms of digital communication. \u00a0Henry Alex Rubin’s narrative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1913,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}