The Social Network

Maybe I'm too old. No, not maybe, I am. I saw this characters as aliens of sorts. I know they represent today's landscape, brrrrr. The film as a film is one of the best of David Fincher but the universe it explores gave the chills. A world approaching its end, fast. The youth of the characters made it even more sinister. I couldn't detect their soul or any evidence of its existence. In a way they represent the worst of the previous generations. Roman Emperors or Wall Street. Profit is the name of the game and the ideas come out of boredom of longings to get laid. Love and friendship, loyalty and/or honor as obsolete as good manners. Jesse Eisenberg is chillingly perfect as the humanoid that started it all - or did he? - Justin Timberlake keeps surprising me. Good, very good and Andrew Garfield, the most recognizable of the characters is a victim of sorts and he'll be destroyed no matter how much money he gets. How I wish this was merely a science-fiction film.

I went into this film with little or no hope. By the time the movie was over, with the Beatles' "Baby, You're A Rich Man" playing over the end credits, I had a huge smile on my face. I literally cannot wait to watch this again during it's wide release.

The lighting and camera work here is beautiful, every scene and sequence is a joy to watch. If Fincher hasn't already proved himself time and time again with his great films, this one might be the one to seal the deal for him. One sequence in the middle of the film features a boring rowboat race. Fincher sets up the photography so beautifully, that it feels like you're watching a painting come to life.

All the performances are excellent. Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg as a fast-paced, nerdy, kind of jerk-ish attitude, and Andrew Garfield is his best friend, Eduardo, who at the beginning didn't mean much to me, but I found myself rooting for him by the end. Justin Timberlake is easily the weakest one of the three, but he still does a decent job.

And oh, man the soundtrack. Trent Reznor deserves some kind of recognition for this. It is amazing. A lot of people say the movie sounds boring. They cite "The invention of facebook" as an uninteresting topic. I say don't believe that talk, and check out this interesting, funny, thrill ride by Fincher and co.

I'd put off watching THE SOCIAL NETWORK for a time, suspecting it to be a dry and slow-moving film. After all, it was about the guy who founded Facebook, so how much fun could it be? I didn't much like the idea of watching a film based around people sitting on computers, so I was in no hurry to see it.

Now I've watched it, and things have changed. Because THE SOCIAL NETWORK turns out to be one of David Fincher's best films, and that's from a director whose filmography is littered with gems. This is a hugely entertaining and thoroughly gripping story of success, defeat, lies and deceit, and I was so caught up in the narrative that the two hour running time flew past.

The joy of THE SOCIAL NETWORK is that it focuses on the conflict between the various parties involved with the founding of one of the world's most popular websites. It's bam, bam, bam, with barely time to breathe, let alone get bored. Good performances are given across the board, particularly from Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, two actors I'm normally disposed to dislike, both of whom are excellent. Technical values are, unsurprisingly, absolutely spectacular, and it's clear that Fincher is in his element, making a mini-masterpiece out of the premise. Splendid stuff.

...or the evil behavior of Mark Zuckerberg, part one. This film really needs a sequel to cover everything that's happened since 2010. It's very well made but I have to say, it's hard to like anyone as they're all so flawed, including the Harvard elitists who came up with (much of) the original concept, the CFO who was a nice enough guy but deeply unqualified for his position, and Sean Parker, at least in the portrayal here, with his narcissism and partying. They're all multibillionaires today, so it's hard to feel too sorry for any of them. And then of course there's Zuckerberg, whose moral failings are apparent throughout, from his misogyny and arrogance in college to backstabbing people along the way. He is a complete a$$hole, and I liked how David Fincher didn't hold anything back while telling the story. I wish it had been truthful about Zuckerberg's personal life, as Priscilla Chan is nowhere to be seen, but the gist of the film seems right, particularly given what would happen in the decade which followed. Seriously, let's have a part two.

Let's start with the script. It's great. Written by soon-to-be-best- adapted-screenplay-nominee/winner Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network's writing is intelligent and demanding on multiple levels: most obviously, the story is cleverly structured across dual lawsuits, but there's an equal amount of sophistication to Sorkin's character work--Zuckerberg is never quite capable of maintaining a dialog, Eduardo always stops just short of explicating his emotions.

Those two characters are wonderfully played by inevitable acting award nominees Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield--Eisenberg owns the brisk pace of the film while Garfield brings most of the humanity--who anchor a terrific ensemble--SAG best ensemble, perhaps? The film's score is a perfectly atmospheric concoction of electronica from edgy dark horse best original score nominees Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and it's all united under the name and vision of David Fincher, who did not win an Oscar for Fight Club or Zodiac or Benjamin Button.

All of this is to say two things: this is a really great movie from a phenomenal creative team, and also there are times when the film feels somewhat calculated for accolades--never in the repugnantly safe, crowd- pleasing, middle-brow Benjamin Button sense, but in the sweetly transparent sense of a kid who did all his chores and is suggesting that he might deserve a cookie.

You know what? Give David Fincher a cookie. The Social Network is thoroughly intelligent and engaging as a modern biopic and as an examination of evolving cultural currency, and it's also one of my favorite films this year. -TK 10/1/10