Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology

Connected is essential viewing for anyone who participates in, thinks about, and perhaps has some concerns about how we as humans connect with each other in this digital age. Tiffany Shlain is probably one of our most important filmmakers today – pushing the boundaries of communication and all of its implications. This film is not only a consideration of how we relate to each other as human beings in the digital age – but as importantly – how those connections – and the way that we connect affect us both positively and at times negatively. How are we transforming as a human race with our digital appendages? How can we retain what is human about us? How wonderful it is that we can connect with people across the planet in ways never dreamed of – but also what is the price of that digital connection. As a parent – this is a must – and a must to watch with your children – and gift and share with your friends and family. It should be required viewing in middle school – and should be required viewing for you.

The trailer for this movie suggested that the film would address our dependency on technical connections at the expense of the personal. I was expecting insights, and kept looking for them, but was rewarded only with banal new age platitudes. Notably, a film entitled "Connected" was in the end a DISconnected jumble of points historical, sociological, economic and emotional. It's unfortunate, because the concept for the film was potentially compelling. The director's decision to try to convert that original concept into a sort of tribute to her father proves disastrous. The film ends up being a rambling speech by the director in voice-over, accompanied by repeated clips from family home movies along with an array of stock footage from silent movies and newsreels and a large number of animated graphics which come across mostly as irrelevant distractions. The director's sloppy use of scientific terms and her irrational beliefs about radiation were distracting, but she totally lost me when she insinuated that she believed in auras. There is a certain personality type that will love this film precisely because it is so vague, disorganized and pointless. These people believe that meaning can be extracted from nearly anything. What a disappointing doc. Not recommended.

Human responsibility is complex; priorities are often contradictory. In the Twentieth Century, postmodern writers and artists transformed mediums to allow for paradox, but it was not until the twenty-first-century film Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology that audiences could collectively experience the visual, textual, and emotional beauty of holding complex inconsistencies while moving toward personal growth and global connection. Director Tiffany Shlain exposes the journey by which the global film she set out to make began to kick, cry, and nurse itself into being something more authentic-- more connected--than any one viewer can articulate. Perhaps there's irony in merely writing a review of a film whose visually articulated thesis proposes the new century's possibilities are unleashed by the exponential increase in access to images. Shlain's hypothesis that a technologically interconnected world exercises each individual's image centers can be evidenced now--from the drifts of snow over which Shlain's father first released her from his view to the digitally mastered web of connections that refuse to release the globe from its collective potential, the images in Connected transform viewers into visionaries who don't have to eliminate the contradictions of their connectedness.

Connected is one of those rare films that engages, entertains and makes you continually and thoughtfully ponder long after you've seen it.

It is one cleverly interwoven film integrating two constructs: One is a big picture adventurous roller coaster ride utilizing found footage, fabulous animation and music to uniquely give a historical snapshot of globalism, humanism, technology, and the interconnectivity between them all.

The other aspect is a lovely, emotionally-charged story of Tiffany Shlain's own personal life as she begins to come to terms with her own connections during a challenging time in her life. Tiffany, filmmaker & founder of the Webby Awards, is a thought leader of innovation and it's fascinating to see someone immersed in 21st century high tech question her own relationship to it and the world as well as the good, bad & potential of all this connectivity.

Watch this film! You'll never look at life...or even hugging someone the same again ;)!

This film is excellent! A must-see. 5 stars, hands down.

I was so deeply moved by this film for so many reasons. First, the content of the film, so timely. If ever there was a time for interconnectedness and cooperation, this is it! The time is now! And the film illustrates this SO beautiful and poignantly.

Also, I was so inspired by Tiffany Shlain's (the filmmaker's) creative process. The way that all these layers of her personal life, creative life, family life, etc, wove together in such an exquisitely beautiful way...and the timing...just incredible!!!

I am so grateful to Tiffany for her work. This kind of information / line of thinking is SO important ~ and she makes it so accessible in such a VERY well-done film. I was really impressed.

I was also impressed & touched by the beautiful & vulnerable way that she shared herself throughout the film. The world could really use more of this, and I am so grateful to her for being a model of this kind of authentic (raw) self-expression.

Please see this film ~ you will love it!