Disconnect

Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin

(R)

***

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In this surprisingly effective drama, three interlocking narratives create “a bleak vision of life in the Internet age,” said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. Strong performances buoy each story line as a lonely 15-year-old becomes the unsuspecting target of cyberbullies, a marriage is shaken by identify theft, and a reporter investigates a website tied to child prostitution. “But Disconnect is best at depicting what it doesn’t try to dramatize: an empathy deficit that seems to be growing as our online lives grow ever more abstract.” The stories “at times teeter on melodrama,” but all the characters are “richly drawn and relatable,” said Claudia Puig in USA Today. Alexander Skarsgard and Paula Patton excel at conveying how online lives can erode real-life relationships, and Jason Bateman proves “particularly heart-wrenching” as an anguished father. The importance of discussing the Internet’s dark side may win Disconnect more praise than it deserves, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. Yet even when its plotting feels “awfully cooked up,” the film “pokes at modern discontents with a fervor that provokes.”