"Since when did you start caring about what a source feel like after you get what you want, huh?"
Disconnect is a multi-narrative drama that originally premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, where it received a batch of very mixed critical reviews. Some people absolutely loved it and thought that first time director Henry Alex Rubin had created an important and clever movie about tragedy and social awareness, whereas others called it a cheap and emotionless ripoff of other movies with several interlinking stories, such as Paul Haggis' Crash and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel. Although I personally love Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia to heaven and back, I don't particularly care that much for multi-narrative films, the main reason being that I don't think there's enough time to get to know all the different characters, which in turn means that I don't care about them at all. This meant that I didn't have too high hopes for Disconnect going into it, and in spite of how many problems it had, these low expectations probably were the main reason why I ended up enjoying it as much as I did.
Being a movie with several interweaving stories, Disconnect has a downright enormous cast. Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgård, Max Thieriot, Jonah Bobo, Colin Ford and Hope Davis portray the most important characters in the four respective storylines, and even though all of them do a really good job acting vise, it's actually one of the less important characters that ended up stealing the show in my opinion. One of the main characters' father is played by Frank Grillo, an actor whom I've never really noticed before, and I was kind of flabbergasted by how amazing he was at portraying this hardened, emotionally distanced parent, whom I would have loved to see get more screen time than he did. Jason Bateman was surprisingly good as well, seeing as he tends to do comedies exclusively these days, and I'd like to se him take on more serious roles in the future. Another actor that took his character a little too seriously however, was Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård. He delivers a very fine performance as a down on his luck office worker who recently lost his only son, but I felt as if he overacted his emotional breakdown a little too much at times. Over all I think that the main cast did a good job though, which is a detrimental must for multi-narrative movies like this one.
As for the actual plot of the movie, there is a lot of things that don't work. The film's central theme is post modern people and the way in which they tend to distance themselves from each other through the internet; at least that what the movie wants you to think. This message is clearly visible in the beginning, but when we get to the narrative point of no return about half way through the movie, it's as if all the themes about spending too much time on the internet and people distancing themselves from their families and friends is thrown into the toilet, in order make room for a more generic cyber-thriller kind of atmosphere. The director and actors handle this new way of doing things quite well actually, so much so that I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat for entire last fourth of the film, but the main message and the feeling of being disconnected that the first half established is complete gone anyway. This change in attitude is not as big a problem as it could have been, but I still feel as if the main theme and the power of the narrative got lost in the shuffle. It's as if the title "Disconnect" fits the first half brilliantly, but looses it's meaning in the second.
As for the actual plot of the movie, there is a lot of things that don't work. The film's central theme is post modern people and the way in which they tend to distance themselves from each other through the internet; at least that what the movie wants you to think. This message is clearly visible in the beginning, but when we get to the narrative point of no return about half way through the movie, it's as if all the themes about spending too much time on the internet and people distancing themselves from their families and friends is thrown into the toilet, in order make room for a more generic cyber-thriller kind of atmosphere. The director and actors handle this new way of doing things quite well actually, so much so that I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat for entire last fourth of the film, but the main message and the feeling of being disconnected that the first half established is complete gone anyway. This change in attitude is not as big a problem as it could have been, but I still feel as if the main theme and the power of the narrative got lost in the shuffle. It's as if the title "Disconnect" fits the first half brilliantly, but looses it's meaning in the second.
The four stories that tie this film's narrative together are all very well acted, but as it always seems to happen with these multi-narrative film, some of them are good, and some of them are less good. Bateman and his family's plot kind of is the main story, and it's probably the most entertaining one of the lot as well. Bateman plays a father who's constantly busy with his job, and the character progression that he undergoes when something tragic happens to his family was one of my favourite things about the entire film. This "main" story is closely related to a second one, in which a couple of young boys end up taking cyber-bullying to the extreme. This is also the plot line in which Frank Grillo appears, and the back and forth he shares with his son and the way in which their relationship and their personalities is being displayed made for some very heartbreaking moments. There's one scene that stuck with me in particular, and it's the one where Grillo gets mad at his son for doing something very stupid towards the end of the film. Colin Ford who plays the boy is stunningly good in this scene, and I've rarely seen a more convincing and truthful daddy/son argument in any movie ever.
The third story is the most assimilated one of the bunch, and its centered around an 18-year-old boy who "sells himself" though a webcam chat room on the internet. A local news reporter finds out about him and his line of work and decides to make a news report about the topic, in which she wants the young man to tell his story to the rest of world through an interview. This story is actually the most original and groundbreaking one of all the ones in the movie, so it pains me to say that the way in which it was handled kind of sucked. There was so much potential in this idea of going in depth with online prostitution, so much so that I'd say there's more than enough material to make an entire standalone movie about the subject, but there's just too many silly things about the way in which the director handled it in this movie. The two characters kind of start a relationship in the middle of the whole thing which they then suddenly forget all about in the next scene, and the part where the FBI suddenly starts to get involved with the story felt like a very cheap way of injecting some very unnecessary drama into the plot. The way in which this fourth of the movie connects with the other parts is very vague and stupid as well, and I honestly can't believe how unoriginal and forced it felt when the connection took place.
The fourth and final part, which is the one where Alexanders Skarsgård looses his son, is quite possibly the weakest of the bunch. Not only did the story of how he and his wife deal with their loss turn out to be boring and corny, but it also ended up being kicked violently to the curb by some stupid side plot where the couple has their identities stolen, which subsequently leads to their credit cards being emptied. It angered me more than I can explain that the whole baby thing wasn't anything but a cheap setup for a more dramatic and action packed plot line that didn't have much relevance to the rest of the film at all, and the only redeeming thing about it is the fact that Frank Grillo's character, who just happens to be a private investigator, is brought in to help them solve the case. Skarsgård's performance was good for the most part though, the most impressive thing about it being that I didn't even realize that he's Swedish until the movie was over, but Paula Patton who plays his wife sadly delivers the only downright bad performance in the whole film. There's one scene with her that made me clench my teeth especially hard, and it's the one in which she's chatting with a stranger on some sort of trauma-relief chat room. The way in which she tries to make her character seem more saddened and hurt by slightly shaking her head and making a silly doggy face is absolutely terrible and untruthful, and it made me which that I was watching Bateman's or Grillos' story instead, which is the one sin that a multi-narrative film must do everything in its power to avoid committing.
My final and biggest problem with this movie however, is the dialogue and the script. Oh man. There's probably 20 lines of dialogue in this movie that don't fit into the overall context of the plot whatsoever, and the amount of time I spend thinking about some weird quote that just blurted out of my speakers instead of focusing on the plot of the movie is embarrassingly high. Some of these verbal missteps take place at very important parts of the climax too, and the impact they had on my overall enjoyment of the film was quite high because of that.
In spite of all the negative things there are to be said about Disconnect, the movie did manage to keep me entertained for the wast majority of its runtime. Most of the stories were original and decently created, and even though the entire cast (except Paula Patton) did a very good job, Jason Bateman and Frank Grillo stole the show in their respective scenes every time they appeared. The one scene they share was botched by one of the several misplaced and out of context dialogue-screwups though, and when the other negative things about the main message of the film being lost in the second half and the thing about Skargård's storyline is added on top of that, the negatives stack up too high for me to give the movie my seal approval. The over all product was more than just worth the watch however, and that's why Disconnect ends up with a little more than just the regular three stars. (3,5/6)
Disconnect IMDb page here
Disconnect trailer here
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