Connected

This hard-to-pigeonhole 2011 documentary is not exactly the straightforward cyber-manifesto it initially seems. Filmmaker and leading 'net citizen Tiffany Shlain (founder of the Webby Awards, among other online distinctions) opens her film with John Muir's aphorism that everything is connected to everything else. Cosmic-zooming from the personal out to a Big Picture, Shlain describes her loving relationship with her brilliant father, surgeon/author Leonard Shlain, and talks about his controversial theories on the evolution of creativity, literacy, and social development. Tiffany planned to collaborate on a film with her father, but he receives a terminal diagnosis with brain cancer, while she is suddenly having a difficult, high-risk pregnancy (after several miscarriages). From this family drama starting point, she explores (assisted by stock clips, home movies, and found footage) the appeal of social media and search engines to neurological pleasure-centers; cancer as a metaphor for the dangerous illusion of limitless consumerist growth; unforeseen eco-disasters and hive-collapse disorder among bees (Al Gore receives "special advisor" credit, as do Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida); Marie Curie and Leonardo Da Vinci; and the grief of losing a parent. For Tiffany, the World Wide Web offers teeming humanity a hope for positive, WiFi-speed interaction and empathy for each other and the environment—if we make the right choices. DVD extras include two spinoff short films by Shlain and her wired-up collaborators. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)