Connections

In a world where everyone has been completely consumed by their cellphones, those who have not yet been consumed by virtual reality are few and far between. Very 1984-ish in concept but put the onus on the user rather than any overbearing overwatching government. The dinner with mum and the lead's sisters was audaciously robotic and sinister, feeling as though it was saying cellphones literally take our souls and wills. To eat or to live, it's the same idea. A cinema full of lit up screens was a very meta moment, as we in the cinema audience saw a film watching a cinema audience. I respected the big ideas, I just would have liked to have seen more of a storyline rather than concept developed.

Connections begins with the main character losing his phone in the required puddle - but with dire consequences in a world where everyone is deeply addicted to their phone. Unable to engage online he is suddenly separated and unable to connect. His family take photos of their dinners, his girlfriend selfies them, but no one pays him any real attention. The hero scene for me is the cinema of viewers all on their phones while no movies plays. The ending is charming and hopeful. I liked the way this film took todays' phone addiction and really only shifted it slightly to satirise our behaviour. It was clever and its great to see school teams telling stories that feel relevant to their own lives. Things to improve would have been adding some more stakes for the main character so that we felt more connected and empathetic about his lack of device access and also polishing up the production values.