The Social Network review

How does one make interesting the dull story of the creation of a website that has in many ways defined a generation? Some would say lie, but others might say you need not but re-analyze the truth. "The Social Network" isn't so much about facebook as much as it's about it's introverted, egotistical founder Mark Zuckerberg and his various relationships he had with people around the time of the sites creation and rise to fame. It is a 120 minute dramatic, funny, intelligent and sometimes tense ride through the modern business world as seen through the eyes of college kids. And it may also be David Fincher's best film to date. I'm not 100% on that as I do strongly LOVE "Zodiac", but this is a damn fine piece of work that deserves all the acclaim it's gathering currently.

Interestingly enough though still so many people write off the film simply as 'that facebook movie' and so on. Can I call you closed minded? I'll call you closed minded, but perhaps it isn't your fault. For all I know you could have some... issue or brain dysfunction that impairs you from putting the various pieces together that this isn't something that simple. This isn't a movie of the week, here now gone tomorrow. The point isn't simply to tell us of the creation of a website that has for better or for worse changed the internet. I don't feel like I'm spinning wheels here either. Realize that facebook is such a giant that it is used as a contact more often than just people exchanging numbers. Business' will create profiles on there to easily reach out to the consumer and let them 'feel' like they're part of something special by getting online exclusive offers that otherwise they might have never know about. You can nearly skip entire conversations and avoid bringing up the wrong subjects just by paying attention to someones listed interests, their status updates and so on. Hell the only way you might know about this review is through fucking facebook (or possibly twitter and tumblr). It is the dominating social networking site.

Now onto the flick. Jesse Eisenberg has been doing the small, indie scene for sometime, but had a big mainstream hit last fall with "Zombieland". Basically he can play the awkward teen much like Michael Cera, but with a little more cockiness to him. Much like Cera in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" however Eisenberg steps up his game A LOT as Zuckerberg. Is he awkward? Yes, but not in the conventional movie terms. His version of Zuckerberg (or Citizen Zuck as he's been renamed) appears to have more a disorder than simple shyness. He's cocky in his own way, smart and unfortunately knows it, but appears uncomfortable around large groups and even after a while close friends. He seems like an asshole and honestly probably is one. You can youtube some of his real life interviews and make your own assessment as well. Andrew Garfield (who has been getting some killer work lately) plays Eduardo Saverin, Mark's best friend, co-founder of facebook and later on someone who would sue him for everything. Garfield plays Saverin with a careful ease. It's not as playful of a type of character like Zuck, but one built more off of his diction and manners. Of course having a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin doesn't hurt you either.

Sorkin (who also has a brief cameo in the film) in my mind may have clinched a Best Adapted Screenplay victory with this. It is occasionally showy diolouge in the David Mamet way, but it's delivered with a careful flow that is perfection to listen to. You know when you hear film speak and it's just like beautiful music? This is it. Speaking of music we have something interesting and damn near the best score I've heard all year. Now... yes I AM a Nine Inch Nails fan and thus do already like Trent Reznor and all, but as a stand alone piece of work, he and Atticus Ross (who also did a great job scoring 'The Book of Eli') have made a score that perfectly compliments the visuals, enhances them at times, has fun with them at times and as a musical piece apart from that is also beautiful and emotional. In fact there isn't much of anything I didn't enjoy in "The Social Network".

From the opening scene between Eisenberg and Rooney Mara you see the pace and the tone of the entire picture. It's serious, but funny. It's fast, but methodical. It's got whimsy, but it's pretty damn dark. When we start getting into the flash editing between the Harvard days and his court cases with him against Eduardo and with him against Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra (who claimed Mark stole the idea of facebook from them) we see the dark humor and the dramatics coming out in spades. When we're introduced to Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the darkness sets in more and more and there's this added foreboding to entire situation that was there for a while, but never this quietly intense. There are a number of scenes that might include humor and other emotions that still maintain a subtle intensity due to the acting, music and directing.

This is VERY much a David Fincher film. You get some visual echos of past Fincher films like "Se7en" and "Fight Club", but you also get that newer and more matured simplification of style that we saw in "Zodiac" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". These are strong characters and there are strong themes that run throughout the entire film. They aren't messing around when they say things about it's elements being as old as storytelling itself; they're right. These are strong and basic themes that make stories interesting and here they are so fucking interesting that I could hardly believe it. Furthermore it works as a tech movie by filling you up with shit you have no idea about (or at least I didn't), but making not the words important, but the meanings and emotions behind them. It's very similar to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" films in that sense. I don't know much of anything about the stock market and yet those film are FILLED with stock jargon and even though we don't know all the definitions we still care about what happens. It's the driving emotion.

Simply put I can't tell you how much I honestly love this film. I've been finding some really good and some great stuff lately, but hands down this exceeded my exceptions. Sure I thought I'd like or love the movie, but I wasn't sure quite how much. When I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and reviewed it I remember writing that it was my least favorite of Fincher's great films. I imagined loving that film to no end, but that simply wasn't the case. Here though I might have found the best movie I've seen all year and possibly the best from Fincher. But I don't know fully just yet. Rest assured I will be watching it again soon and might even offer further insights and thoughts on it. However for nearly four in the morning on a Friday I'll have to leave it by saying that this is a great, entertaining film and also a very important one.