Review: The Social Network

The Social Network
dir. David Fincher
run time: 2 hours
Columbia Pictures
rating: 5 of 5 stars

     David Fincher started out small, doing commercials, music videos, the types of things most directors start out doing: a way to get their name into the world, attached to some brilliant works. He got his feature debut on Alien 3 (1992), and has since produced some of the most brilliant thrillers of today: The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Se7en (1995). He is well known for the use of unique, digitally enhanced camera movement, taking the audience to different rooms through walls, over ceilings, next to objects – places where cameras generally can't go. But since Panic Room (2002), Fincher has appeared to change pace, taking on more serious movies such as Zodiac (2007), which is based on the story of the investigators of the Zodiac serial killers. He was also the director behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which received mixed reviews.

     While his unique camera moves have since diminished, and his highly fictionalized crime thrillers have been replaced by "based on true story" films, his works remain uniquely him, something quite apparent in his most recent film The Social Network (2010), starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and Armie Hammer. This film only once indulges in that unique camera move, and then hardly noticeable, but the story, although a drama, is set up as a thriller.
     From the beginning of the movie the fast-paced editing, the speedy and realistic dialogue, and the inter-cutting between present and past make for a relentless blast of information, emotion, and drama. The intensity of the movie is enough to make one jittery afterward, sending the mind traveling a million miles a second. The story of Mark Zuckerberg's (Jesse Eisenberg) creation starts at the end of his relationship with his girlfriend, where she tells him he tries too hard be something he is not. After the break-up, Zuckerberg breaks some school rules to create a "Hot or Not" website that catches the attention the Winklevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer) on Harvard's rowing team, an exclusive group Zuckerberg obsesses about throughout the film. The twins approach him with an idea for a new dating website, which includes that same exclusivity that Zuckerberg so obsesses over.

     The film then cuts to the present, where we learn Zuckerberg is in legal negotiations with the twins as well as with his best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) about his creation "Facebook." The story unfolds from there revealing the shallowness of Zuckerberg, and the downfall of anything good that he may have had going for him.
      What comes as a large surprise, is the quality of the acting in The Social Network. Eisenberg plays the soulless Zuckerberg with a jittery, almost absent presence throughout the film. The character is a genius and knows it, using every opportunity that arises to demerit those around him. Garfield, on the other hand, plays the friend whose life is all but ruined by his relationship with Zuckerberg. This character is the only decent person in the movie, and Garfield pulls it off well. Few scenes are overacted, and none feel unreal. Even the performance as Sean Parker by Mr. Timberlake is exceptional. He plays the unbearable jerk, if you will, who steps in to be lauded by Zuckerberg and separate him from his best friend Eduardo. The other characters are, quite possibly, just as amazing; form Armie Hammer's two roles, as distinct as separate people, to Rashida Jones' quirky performance as Marylin Deply, no-one breaks the quality of this film's acting.
     As much as Aaron Sorkin's script, and Kurt Baxter and Angus Wall's editing do for the film, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's music gives considerable contribution. The diegetic techno music, as well as the non-diegetic score for the film are a herald of emotions that enhance the acting, the dialog and the editing in ways one would not expect such music to do.
    As Fincher has proven time and again, he knows how to choose a director of photography. Like Benjamin Button, and Fight Club before it, the cinematography in The Social Network is pristine, ominous, and quite appropriate. The often green or magenta lighting, along with the lower saturation, and super shallow depth-of-field contribute to the drama of the film, the intensity of the story. The opening sequence, just still shots of Eisenberg as he runs across campus, lets one know that the film is going to be a beautiful one. And by the time the rowing race comes, with its use of tilt-shift photography to make it all look like a miniature (as though the race is insignificant compared to the worth of Facebook), it is hard to ignore the beauty of the film.
     The implementation of techniques used in thrillers, the astounding screenwriting, the fast-paced editing, the low-saturation lighting and pristine composition, the unique score, and the absolutely mind-blowing acting make The Social Network one the year's best films, and likely to be praised as Fincher's best work to date.