Rent Disconnect (2012)

Very Enjoyable Movie about the Dangers of the Internet for Kids + Adults - Disconnect review by PV

I enjoyed this film. It follows separate stories of characters which may later overlap, and shows how the internet - the bad side of it - affects them all, in often devastating ways. There's money, there's sex, there are broken relationships.

The dark underbelly of the internet and so-called social media needs to be called out, and I am glad movies like this do.

The first 2 acts are particularly strong and all, sadly, utterly believable.

The internet with all its fraud, bullying, trolling, perversion, abuse is the new normal - or abnormal - so it is good to see films like this being made. Why can;'t the UK make believable contemporary films like this?

It could be a TV drama, it's that good - and I mean a decent US TV drama (like Breaking Bad) not the usual soapy preachy BBC dross.

4 stars.

Hang Up - Disconnect review by Steve

Post millennium there was a wave of films about the interconnectedness of things (like Babel, 2006). Then social media happened and filmmakers turned their lens on how divided we all are. This has something of both. There are three online incidents which illustrate the sadness and isolation of modern life.

So, an estranged couple (Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgård) are victims of identity theft; an ambitious tv journalist (Andrea Riseborough) exposes a chatroom stripper to the FBI; an adolescent boy (Jonah Bobo) attempts suicide after personal photos are spread around school.

Then a tenuous offline connection is revealed between the stories. The themes may no longer be novel, but this is still well written with quality performances, led by Jason Bateman as the father of the afflicted teenager. While the film runs, the actors create an interesting and unsettling melodrama.

This mostly disappears on reflection, but it leaves an impression of how the human need for connection has been exploited by social media, which has spread anxiety. And may be too unforgiving of normal human frailties... And how it amplifies the capacity of individuals to do harm...

*there is some nudity and swearing.