Disconnect

Plot synopsis:
An ambitious, up-and-coming reporter Nina Dunham has much success with her interview with underage video chat-room stripper Kyle. Kyle, a runaway, works in a whole "house" with other chat-room strippers under his boss, Harvey. However, the FBI wants her to reveal his address in order to shut down the whole website that hosts the web-rooms. Since she has paid him in order to make initial contact, she may have broken the law, making the police and her boss put pressure on her to cooperate. Nina wants to save him from the business, yet fears losing his trust in the process. Kyle reluctantly gives her the address, and somehow, Harvey is tipped off and the entire house flees. When Nina discovers this, she follows them to the motel where they're staying, and asks Kyle to leave with her. At first, Kyle is hopeful for the future and willing, but when Nina is hesitant to guarantee him safe haven in her home, he resists. Harvey watches the argument, then slaps Nina. The entire group of chat-room strippers leave and Nina drives away in tears.
Two boys, Jason and his friend Frye, impersonate a girl, "Jessica Rhony," on Facebook Messenger and convince teenager Ben (the son of Rich, a legal counsel at the TV station where Nina works) to send a nude picture of himself. The boys distribute it to classmates, and the picture circulates to nearly everyone in their grade. Ben is so embarrassed by this cyber bullying that he attempts suicide by hanging himself and ends up in a coma. Rich doggedly searches Ben's social media, looking for answers, and begins chatting with "Jessica." Jason visits Ben in the hospital, where he meets Rich, and falsely calls himself Mike. Jason's father (the real Mike) discovers what Jason has been doing and becomes very angry with him. However, he grudgingly protects his son by erasing the evidence on Frye's iPad. Later, Rich discovers that Jason is actually "Jessica," and goes to Mike's house angrily, resulting in a physical altercation. Jason tries to intervene, and Rich hits him with a hockey stick. Mike then hits Rich, who falls to the ground, which stops the fight.
Cindy and Derek, a married couple who recently lost their infant son (The cause of his death is never said, but he is likely died by illness, accident, or he has been one of the many victims of SIDS), struggle after their identities are stolen online. They hire private detective Mike (Jason's father) to find the thief, and after revealing that Cindy had been regularly chatting on a support group website, Mike determines their burglar. Cindy and Derek go after the suspect, Stephen Schumacher, following him at work, watching his movements, and breaking into his home for evidence. Right before Derek goes to confront him at his front door, Mike calls to tell him that Schumacher is not their guy, that he too was a victim of the burglar. Schumacher, who had been noticing Cindy and Derek stalking him, confronts them in their car with a rifle; however, Derek, a former Marine, disarms him and forces him back into his house. Cindy is able to coax the gun away, relating to the online chats about each of their losses.
The film ends with none of the stories being resolved, and yet, with all characters having grown closer to the ones they love in the process, or rather, having stopped "disconnecting."

Tags: dramatic, revenge, depressing, sentimental, prank

Review:
I watched it at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and for the first time after almost 10 films thought this is the first one which can be publicly released for a wider audience because of its social message, especially right after two cases of murders of local parents by their adult sons who loved to play computer games.Disconnect mainly centers on three sub stories which are loosely linked.
There was nothing wrong in each character's internal logic or perception of the world: a lonely teenager looking for friendship, a wife confiding to a stranger on the internet because her husband cannot talk with her on their loss of their son, a young journalist trying to get a scoop on runaway youth turned cyber sex provider.As the story progress, however, we see how these longing deviate and troubles follow.
Some people were so longing for connection with other human beings but cannot be satisfied at home that they naively trust this virtual relationship on the internet or mobile phone – while on the other end of the line, their "friends" might well be abuser or bullies, taking advantage of these lonely hearts, intentionally or not.Since the director used to shoot documentaries, the film is filled with an authentic flavor, developing with an urgent tempo.
The script is competent and well sculpted, with three simultaneous stories,but the final wrap-up scenes were (story-wise)oddly unbelievable, canned, pre-made, or "off the shelf" for lack of a better term.There is a large percentage of the population(i.e.my wife and I) that are not fully in tune (or dependent) on the current, internet-laced way of life, but I felt this movie effectively plugged us into understanding and relating to it.Although the film resides in the Arts & Entertainment category, it also can be perceived as a valuable, cinematographic core-sample of the current culture and society,in ways that "Easy Rider", "The Best days of our lives", and others movies have done in the past.It shows the"now"of our culture and society in humanistic, suspenseful, and moving ways.I highly recommend seeing the film if you have the time..
This common narrative structure will inevitably be called "Crash-like," but whether or not the stories connect isn't really the point of "Disconnect." The movie raises a danger sign that, if gone unheeded, will only result in more senseless tragedies -- countless lives ruined, innocent children lost -- and putting the spotlight on several unsuspecting victims of our Internet society makes for a powerful experience that packs an emotional wallop from opening credits to finale.This is one of those films for which, as a non-spoiler reviewer, it's best for me to avoid the specifics of the script and who does what here.
It's often sad and scary, dark and depressing at times, and knowing it's based on true stories makes it all the more devastating when we witness the consequences of our seemingly-innocuous actions when entering a chat room, looking for virtual companionship, playing a childish practical joke, or putting our personal information online.Every actor in the huge ensemble cast, from adults to teens, is superb.
Moreover, the result of Mike's investigation turns out to compound the problem rather than solve it.Finally, there is Nina, an up-and-coming TV news reporter who gets her hands on the life story of Kyle, an older teen engaging in a salacious line of work performed online in front of a camera.
Actually, real life in this movie interferes with virtual plots in a way that even the latter take unintended twists and turns.It turns out Mike not only changes Cindy and Derek's life (they set out to make a dramatic move as a result of Mike's investigations), he also is forcibly involved in the story around Ben. Ben's dad, in turn, is a legal counsel at the TV station where Nina works; that way, he is drawn on two fronts into the fallout from risky behavior of teens on the Internet.While this is Nina's immediate connection to another story in this movie, the mere fact that she is a TV personality probably superimposes her story on the others: just as everybody is online these days, everybody still consumes sensational TV news.
This was first brought to prominence by the acclaimed Mexican movie "Amores Perros", and then we saw it in "Traffic", "21 Grams", culminating in the Oscar Best Picture Award given to "Crash." "Disconnect" brings us back to those days when complex intersecting story lines ruled the cinemas."Disconnect" leads us into the lives of four characters and their families.
Shows What Strong Acting, Writing and Directing Can Do. Disconnect (2012) **** (out of 4)Excellent character study looking at a group of people who have their lives damaged due to activities that they do through the internet.
I think this film offers up a very good concept of how people have lost touch with reality and sometimes enter dangerous situations online simply because they have nothing better to do or they're looking for some sort of connection that they can't find in their own lives.
I found this film, directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and written by Andrew Stern, to be a most riveting and powerful drama.With a formidable all-star cast, it tells the tale of three stories which are all linked to social media and internet sites.
The movie issues clear warnings of the inherent dangers that can be present for users, and the possible tragic consequences that can occur.To pick out a couple from the myriad of strong performances here, I thought Andrea Riseborough was superb, as Nina Dunham, an ambitious TV reporter who gets more than she bargained for when she tries to run an investigative feature on online sex sites.
Parts of this climax, particularly a story featuring Alexander Skarsgaard and Paula Patton as a married couple who fall victim to identity theft, felt over done, but Alex-Rubin mostly keeps a firm and sensible hand on his material and doesn't let his film become preachy the way "Crash" did.One of the things I liked most about "Disconnect" was the way it captured just how reliant we as a race have fallen to all electronic devices.
With so many engaging but fundamentally flawed, mediocre, or downright awful films coming out in the last few years, it completely restored my faith in today's movie-making industry.The protagonists in DISCONNECT have one thing in common: Their lives are seriously, often tragically disrupted by online misadventures involving identity theft, cyber-bullying, and child pornography.
DISCONNECT makes you wish you could just leap through the screen and beg all of its unwitting players to do exactly as the title says.Stellar performances by just about everyone, with particular kudos going to Andrea Riseborough as television reporter Nina Dunham, Max Theriot as the 18-year-old interactive-online porno model who Dunham befriends and reports on, and Colin Ford and Aviad Bernstein as the two punkishly convincing cyber-bullies.
In today's society, it reinforces how important it is to put down your smart phone and to spend time making real connections with people.As a father, this movie hit a chord with me.
A teen can exist in that world wanting to be rewarded for playing along satiating with carnality the eyes staring at the 10 inch screen from the other side desire's, a teen who finds it impossible to give expression to his thoughts in the way expected of him in the world he exists finds it easier to show how vulnerable he is in front of that 10 inch screen, an unassuming women leading an insular existence along with her reclusive war veteran husband finds an outlet to her grief through that 10 inch screen only to confront a much starker reality of the other world, its the world that allows people now to use the words " I am online" in a context that defines everything around us even the medium that has dominated our living rooms for over 8 decades- television, what is television today if not redundant in a world that stay's connected constantly.
The movie disparages what television has turned out to be through a character, a woman TV reporter, who sets out to expose one of the dark realities of the online world but gets caught up in her own guilt after coming face to face with the reality of her own existence besmirched by the vile as inveigled by the screen on which she loves to see her face projected every day for millions to see.
Written by Andrew Stern and directed with phenomenal sensitivity and dexterity by Henry Alex Rubin (both rather newcomers on the cinema scene), this is a film that deserves wide recognition at awards time and definitely wide attendance by audiences.Hard-working lawyer Rich Boyd (Jason Bateman), attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his wife Lydia (Hope Davis) and son Ben (Jonah Bobo) and daughter Abby (Haley Ramm).
A widowed ex-cop (Frank Grillo) struggles to raise a mischievous son Jason (Colin Ford) who with his cohort Frye (Aviad Bernstein) cyber-bullies a classmate, the haunted and taunted musician Ben. An ambitious journalist Nina Dunham (Andrea Riseborough) sees a career-making story in teen Kyle (Max Thieriot) who performs porn on an adult-only chatroom.
Watching the movie trailer at first, i knew it was gonna be a great movie!From the first time i read the plot, i was amazed of the idea of connecting the social life and the story of different individuals!!
This is a nicely written movie of inter-webbing stories dealing with the detrimental roles of Internet and its associated technology the lives of people of different class and occupation.
This movie crept up on me, I watched it simply because I think Max Theriot is starting to grab my attention as one to watch and I like Alexander Skarsgaard (ok I admit he's my eye candy!) The film kept my attention all the way through - which is odd for a fairly long film such as this but it weaves the 'relationships' together well and although, like others I felt the endings were a little half done (this could be intentional however as you know deep down that most if these situations would end with a LOT more c**p than we saw) Jason Bateman was outstanding and I'm guessing proved many skeptics wrong with his performance - in fact most of the cast were excellent - I have read some other low rates reviews and two things stuck out for me - firstly although Sigur Ross didn't feature on their ost, their front guy Jonsi did (the final scene features his track) and lastly someone stated that kids wouldn't play these kind of games these days - well working in a college I can vouch for the fact they certainly do!
Well, sure, it's not the only film that shows bullys that make life a living hell for another teenager, but "Disconnect" proves that even they are caught in system that makes them feel as a victim - and it's for the viewer to decide whether or not this is a development caused by technology.As for the visual and auditive aspects I can only say it is a motion picture that is beautifully shot on RED cameras and it got superb color grading in post - this subtle greenish tone supports this story very well.
The music does not push itself in front of the story - the composer delivers a very decent and moody score that has the power to make you goosebumps.The film leaves me with a little insight: since there is no real scapegoat for this situation we have today, we're all in this together - as users of internet and mobile technology.
It tells the story of young people who seek refuge and emotional, as well as sometimes financial support, away from their daily offline burdens and other people who, whether it be deliberately or unintentionally, are taking advantage of that.Acting: This movie is blessed with nothing but good actors, male and female, from different age groups.
This is a beautifully crafted story of 5-6 discord lives and how they intersect, in a backdrop of the online virtual world where everyone finds a someone who, understands you, cares for you, needs you, likes you and loves you.An ambitious TV reporter befriends a 18 year old guy from the adult chat rooms to cover his story, his life.Two little brats play a dirty prank on a loner.
(watch out for their performances!!!)The loner with a rich lawyer dad and a frail family, resorts to music and seeks love online.The brats father a widower quit being a cop to take care of his son, failing miserably at it.The couple who recently lost their child try to make sense of their life, the husband completely immersed in work, while the wife looks for support online...All the stories intermingled in a brilliant pattern.
The camera angles and slow motion shots are especially good.I feel the strongest message of the movies is that no matter what happens in your life, no matter how horribly screwed up it gets, the only people who will be standing by you are your family, and it need not have to be blood related..
Many of us have used the internet for chat, sharing photos, banking, purchases and so many other things that we take for granted.And finally it's an unsettling story because we just don't know who it is we're REALLY talking to, what happens with our information, where our messages end up and so on.A great movie that shows just how intertwined things can be.Without a doubt, well worth the watch..
The story is about 4 different plots, somehow linked t each other and how convoluted the world wide web is, how much internet has made us disconnected from human emotions, but let me reiterate, it is very believable as you see all these incidents happening around you and ultimately how dangerous this whole www thing can get.
It isn't that it Exists, its that there is an Unhealthy Connection to it that is Vampirish in Nature by Siphoning Interpersonal Feelings and Steals not Only Identities but Souls.This Multi-Tasking of a Plot Weaves Three Stories about the Digital World and its Collision with the Organic and is a Profound and Powerful Movie that, while Hardly Deep or Ground Breaking, is Important and Timely, Revealing and Painful..
A must watch, speaks volumes about the intricacies involved in our routine daily lives that affect us as individuals, sometimes to the extent that an individual has to resort to means that would otherwise seem unnecessary.A conflict between ourselves and our expectations of a better world which sometimes makes the viewer ponder and stop and think for a moment.A beautiful tapestry of human conflicts blended into a movie which makes us realize how we get swayed away by reality, that we tend to loose a sense of ourselves as individuals.Great flick, I believe viewers should get to watch more flicks like these as they can teach us so much more about own selves and life.
Disconnect tells the story of three different cases of internet related crimes(cyber-bullying, identity theft, child pornography) and how the people involved struggle to solve them and/or live with them.Instead of focusing on the actions that led to those crimes happening and building up to them, the movie focuses on the relations and actions after those crimes were committed and how it affects the people involved.This really lets you build a quick and relatable connection to the main characters and their actions, as you watch their stories and reactions unfold.Henry Alex Rubin(Director) and Andrew Stern (Writer) did a really great job of putting this on the big screen.
Jonah Bobo(Crazy Stupid Love) does a great job as the misunderstood child that feels out of place in this world, so does everybody else of the child actors.Where Disconnect really starts to shine though is how it manages to deliver the story so subtle and genuine, that you can't help but feel for the characters and even the characters that are supposed to be "bad", based on what they did, have a layer of guilt but genuine kindness underneath that you feel for them too.The soundtrack matches perfectly throughout the whole movie.
It gives a genuine view on people who were struck by fate but in the same moment gives you hope, that things can change for the better.Even though it didn't get the much deserved attention, this movie should be watched by anybody and everybody who wish to feel a genuine Connection to characters in a "Disconnect"ed world..
Henry Rubin's film assures that in final moments of understanding, forgiveness and bridge burning the emotions hold true, however improbable the simultaneity of the events that occur in the end is.Much to thank to a great cast where Jason Bateman is finally out of Arrested Development's comedic autopilot, Frank Grillo gets to prove he is worthy of meatier roles than the ones he's been getting here and there and Andrea Riseborough shows more of what she can do that Oblivion and Welcome to the Punch allowed her to.Thankfully, for a film called Disconnect, it actually ends without making any large judgments on the use of the internet or it's use as a source of comfort, alternatively reminding us to log off every once in a while to check the real life updates of those we love..
"Disconnect" from 2012 stars Jason Bateman, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough, and Alexander Skarsgård.It's the story of people and their involvement with the Internet.
Although almost none of the stories are wrapped up in the end (which is another great thing about the movie; that it can do that and get away with it) I still felt the film was a very rewarding emotional and thought provoking experience.
Disconnect is indeed a "real" movie about how people, for the good and for the bad, is connected on Internet.
Every age has a story to tell and in this cyber imbued world of ours a movie like Disconnect stands out.