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Disconnect

Starring: Jason Bateman, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård, Paula Patton, Hope Davis, and Jonah Bobo
Directed by: Henry Alex Rubin
Screenplay by: Andrew Stern

    Yes, you read that right.  Jason Bateman is actually in a serious movie this time!!!
    In this day in age, it seems like it's becoming increasingly more difficult to truly know who is on the other side of your computer screen talking to you in a conversation on the internet.  This is the story of three cases of people not knowing who is on the other side of the conversation, and how it gets them all into trouble.
    Cindy (Paula Patton) and Derek Hull's (Alexander Skarsgård) marriage is falling apart, and it's not helped when their identities are stolen, and their personal information leaked onto the internet, putting them in dangerous positions.  Nina Dunham (Andrea Riseborough) is a reporter for a local news channel who starts an online relationship with an 18 year old performer on an adult only website, in hopes of getting an interview with him for a story she is working on about the adult website industry.  An ex-cop must raise his son who cyber bullies a classmate, Ben Boyd (Jonah Bobo), to the point of Ben harming himself.  Ben's parents, Rich (Jason Bateman) and Lydia (Hope Davis), must suffer the pain of not knowing if their son is going to survive.
     I really enjoy the story of this film because it has four truly distinct stories, all of which capture our attention in a similar way.  And these stories capture our attention incredibly well.  If your mind is wandering while watching this film, you're just not focused enough on the film.  But it's nearly impossible to not pay attention, just because of how powerful each of these distinct story lines are.
     We can connect with these characters even if we can't necessarily relate to their stories.  I also like that these are four stories that have almost nothing to do with each other.  In most films, this would be my biggest pet peeve about the overall story, but this case is far different.  Heck, the film is called Disconnect.  Why should they be connected?  They're all similar right?  There are however, two stories that are intertwined incredibly well, but you'll have to see the film to find out which ones they are.
     In addition to having an incredibly well told story, Disconnect is very well acted as well.  Jason Bateman is a talented actor.  My problem with him is that he is often cast in terrible comedies.  But my view of him as an actor has changed after seeing this film.  It's a pleasure to watch him play a serious role in a serious movie.
     I rarely say this about a film, but Disconnect is a must see.  It's an incredibly powerful film that I can't recommend enough.  It's tied with The Place Beyond the Pines for my favorite film so far of 2013.
I give Disconnect an A+.

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