If you know your way around Facebook then it’s easy to mock Ben (Jonah Boho) for his gullibility but he is young and also very vulnerable.
Technology has made huge changes to how we live our lives. Mainly for the better, but there are also a lot of negative aspects too. This is a drama focusing only on the latter – hence the title.
Ben Boyd (Jonah Bobo) is an loner, who attracts the attention of two other boys at high school. They decide to make a fake facebook account of a pretty girl called Jessica and then use her to play with him in cruel ways…
Cindy Hull (Paula Patton) is a mother and wife who has recently lost her daughter. Her husband Derek (Alexander Skarsgard) won’t and can’t talk about it. As a result she spends a lot of time talking to a stranger on an online bereavement forum. However a huge withdrawal has just been made from her and her husband’s bank account and now it seems this stranger may have had something to do with it…
These are just two of the stories featured in the film, all of which interlink in some way.
This is a well made drama and although it only concentrates on the bad things that can happen because of our increasing use of technology – there are also positives which come as a result of these crises in people’s lives. To give a couple of examples without spoiling the film : Ben Boyd’s sister and father realise they weren’t there for Ben and both begin to finally understand what’s really important. Cindy and her husband Derek while on a mission to retrieve their money from the internet stranger, finally find themselves starting to talk again. You get the feeling that soon their relationship will be back on track.
Most of the film is realistic but there are a couple of glaringly incongruous things that happen which make you think: “That character wouldn’t do/say that!”. It’s a shame when these happen but it’s rare that they do and for the most part the film is believable.
Disconnect is a surprisingly compelling drama, it can be nasty and bleak, but it’s also touching at times and ends on a note of hope for many of the characters. Worth watching. 7/10
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