Disconnect (2012)

Directed by: Henry Alex Rubin
Country: USA

Review: After two documentaries, director Henry Alex Rubin has a promising start on fiction with a story written by Andrew Stern. The film's structure is familiar, consisting in four different stories that intersect one another at some point, with the single purpose to show how the disconnection among people may lead to tragic consequences. The idea is bold, and the truth is that Rubin did a great job, presenting us the stories in such a way, that the focus and intensity in every one of them were always maintained. With a strong relation with the exposed above, the plot also makes us aware of the perils associated to modern technology through themes such as cyber bullying and Internet frauds. Although evincing melodramatic tones from time to time, “Disconnect” puts a lot of involvement on the screen, exposing the loneliness of common people who are suffering from lack of attention by the ones they trust more, even if those circumstances have been created in an unconscious manner. The performances were determinant to catch our attention, in a film that could have been better polished in terms of screenwriting, including a less obtuse conclusion in one of the stories. Nevertheless, that fact didn’t remove its strong message, which endures in our minds after watching it.