Thursday, March 3, 2011

DVD--The Social Network

or: 'The Facebook Movie'



One word to sum it up: Fast

Since 2004 the world has slowly been introduced to a different world filled with ‘likes’, ‘pokes’ and having more friends than everyone else. Whether you like to admit it or not, Facebook has taken over the world as we know it. So this was an ample opportunity for Aaron Sorkin to write an awesome screenplay and have famed director of murder-themed films David Fincher helm a film about the making of Facebook. When I first heard about this project I was a little confused as to why they would do this, but I, like many people, was completely blown away by what The Social Network achieved. This is highly intelligent drama at its absolute best, and really is the ‘film of our generation’.


Facebook is a website known for connecting people via technology and claims to ‘bring people together’. However, its creator, Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg), experienced the opposite after he created this phenomenon. The Social Network takes a look at the early days of Facebook and the two lawsuits that came with it: his best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) suing him for trying to get him out of his company; and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) suing him for ‘stealing their idea’.


This movie could have been made about a guy making a chair and it would still be wildly intriguing. The Facebook factor just adds novelty. The story it tells is one of friendship, betrayal, greed, power and the inability to connect with anyone. When we first meet Zuckerberg, jabbering away at his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara, the next ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’), we see a man completely devoid of emotion and simply unaware of what it means to be socially ‘with it’. While this scene sets up his cold character, the way this one opening scene is written by Aaron Sorkin is so brilliant. I swear every word in the English language was stuck into that one scene, thus setting the tone for the rest of the movie.


The Social Network is a perfectly made film. The Oscar winning script is perfect in the way that it has all the trimmings to make a fine thriller. The Oscar winning music by Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is totally modern and the way it zips across each scene is perfect. The Oscar nominated (and unfairly robbed) direction by David Fincher combines techniques he used in his past films Zodiac and Fight Club to make this an intense drama. While this isn’t the type of film he usually makes, he proves he is one of the best directors working at the moment. The Social Network is exactly like Fight Club without Marla Singer. And it’s beautiful.


Perhaps the best asset within The Social Network is the performances. Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), known for playing awkward and sweet geeks, makes a complete transformation as narcissistic and cold Zuckerberg. Even though his Oscar nominated performance is beyond amazing, he’s nothing without his friendship with Eduardo Saverin. Andrew Garfield (the next Spider-man) serves as the emotional joint of the film, and his final confrontation with Mark shows exactly how talented Garfield is. You heard it here first: he is the star of the future. Justin Timberlake does a damn good performance as Sean Parker; Disney starlet Brenda Song is crazy as Eduardo’s girlfriend; Armie Hammer does a brilliant job of playing a set of twins; and Rooney Mara, in three scenes, blew me away.


Unfortunately, The Social Network was unfairly and inexplicably robbed of Best Picture by The King’s Speech. I will always regard this movie as the better one of the two. I simply can’t speak any higher of The Social Network. It’s a frequently funny, enjoyable and fresh piece of cinema that ‘captures the spirit of the times’. Believe it.

THE VERDICT: Should have won Best Picture. Obviously, too modern for the voters.

What I got:

5 comments:

  1. Ha...I was watching the special features today. Man the idiotic AMPAs should've watched the Documentary and seen what happens when a master like David Fincher is at work. It's incredible! It losing the best picture was nowhere close to as bad as Fincher losing to someone like Tom Hooper.
    And the thing is that as much as I luuuurve the Fincher thriller, this film was so incredibly different and thus deserved the Oscar more. I know I will love Dragon Tattoo, but I really want him to work with someone like Sorkin again.

    Oh and no offence, but this was nothing like Fight Club without Marla Singer. That's a whole different tale. Except that one connection- without Marla there would've been no Fight Club and without Erica there would've been no Social Network.

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  2. Completely agree Stevee. FIncher got robbed at the Oscars. Every feature of it's production; it's amazing script, it's faultless cinematography, editing and score and amazing performances, is perfect. Se7en is my favorite film by David Fincher, which I value as one of the greatest films of the 90's. The Social Network is one of the best films so far released in the 21st Century!

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  3. Nikhat - I've watched like half of that doco...it's so long! I agree that David Fincher should have won, but I'm over the Oscars now. We all know who is the best. Regarding the Fight Club quote...I saw it somewhere so I took it (sue me). On Tumblr there is a lot of fandom surrounding the film which compares it to Fight Club. I can see heaps of connections between the two...but I can't explain them. Don't you hate it when that happens?

    Andy - Everything about this film is perfect. And you are right, it is one of the best films released in the 21st century! While this is my favourite David Fincher film, my favourite directorial effort of his is definitely Fight Club. He is such a genius!

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  4. http://filmjunkie25.tumblr.com

    I don't really post on it much, though.

    ReplyDelete

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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