“The Social Network”
Written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the novel “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich; Directed by David Fincher; Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara, Rashida Jones and Max Minghella. Story: The tale of how Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard freshman created Facebook, the 500 million-member strong social network and how those who believe Zuckerberg stole the idea or swindled partners out of their share of the company reacted and litigated against him.
Seen by Adam and Lars, October 2, 2010
LARS:
Like many others, I was skeptical, to say the least, when I heard that they were doing a film about Facebook. How could that be even remotely interesting? Granted, I hadn’t read the book, “The Accidental Billionaires” that the film was going to be based on. Then Aaron Sorkin (of “West Wing” fame) came onboard as the writer and David Fincher (“Se7en”, “Fight Club”) signed on to direct. Now, my interest was definitely peaked, but I still couldn’t really see, where it was all going.
Aaron Sorkin has balls. Huge brass ones. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have dared base the structure of “The Social Network” on what is one of the few films that cineastes agree is among the best ever made, “Citizen Kane”. That film was a thinly veiled portrait of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, called Charles Foster Kane in the film (presumably to fight any slander suits). Hearst was portrayed as a sad man, who conquered the world, but ended up taking no pleasure in his achievements, as he lost his humanity in the process. The film holds up incredibly well and the star/director Orson Welles (who directed the film when he was only 28 years old) never again reached the same dizzying heights of movie magic.
The framing device, or MacGuffin, in “Citizen Kane” is famously the sled called “Rosebud”, a memory from Kane’s childhood, when he knew true happiness. In “The Social Network”, Sorkin attributes many of Mark Zuckerberg’s actions to a girl named Erica, whom Zuckerberg used to date. In the films opening scenes, we see her break up with him, with a series of incredibly well chosen words that must have burned in real life. Many of the following actions that Zuck takes to make Facebook into the world’s foremost social network stem from his resentment towards the one that got away. Allegedly, of course, as the real Mark Zuckerberg has said that the film is purely fictional.
Which I guess he has to say, given that he’s portrayed as a complete dick. In fact, he has so little empathy towards anybody and so little understanding of basic human interaction that I began wondering if maybe he suffers from a touch of Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild variant of autism that makes the sufferers able to focus intently, but also takes away many of their social skills.
The story is told through a series of flashbacks during two different depositions, where Zuckerberg is being questioned about the history of the founding of Facebook, and how he allegedly stole the idea and cheated his best friend at the time out of his share of the company. We follow him from the Harvard days to the party when Facebook hits user no 1 million. Needles to say, between those two events lie a large number of incredibly smart and a few unbelievably dumb decisions. So even if not much happens on the surface, “The Social Network” flies by.
The acting is uniformly stellar, even if I found Andrew Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin to be a little on the whiny side at times. Given how Zuckerberg shafted him, it’s understandable, I guess, but it gets a little grating after a while. Jesse Eisenberg seems to be channeling Mark Zuckerberg, and I wouldn’t be surprised, if his performance gives him an Oscar nod. The real standout, though, is Justin Timberlake, who plays a smarmy asshole better than anybody had any reason to expect. Timberlake is growing and growing as an actor. He was good in a small role in “Alpha Dog” and better in the slightly ridiculous “Black Snake Moan”, but here he knocks it out of the park. Annoyingly, the man seems to be good at anything he tries his hand at. I am actually surprised that the real Sean Parker, whom Timberlake portrays in the film, hasn’t sued for defamation of character. On the other hand, if the portrayal of him were anywhere close to reality, then he’d probably be enough of a douche to just be proud that Timberlake is playing him.
David Fincher makes a very smart decision and decides to stay as invisible as he’s ever been as a director. Sure, the film is beautifully shot, but there are none of his signature visual flourishes or ‘look at me’ camera moves. He understands that the script is a killer and that any directorial decision that serves the script serves the film.
So “The Social Network” is one of the best films of the year so far, and should be nominated in several categories and have a good shot at picking up a whole bunch of Oscars come February.
That makes for two positive reviews in a row, here on Thursdays Without Zada. Thank God summer’s over.
ADAM:
I’m sure I’m repeating myself from the last review, but I’m so happy it’s fall; especially as a resident of New York City. The leaves are about to change, I’ve stopped sweating (in theory) until next May and the real cream of the crop of the year’s films start to find their way into the theaters. That was true with our last review, “The Town,” and it’s just as true for “The Social Network.” The film caters perfectly to all of us eager to know what was going on behind the scenes (both Mark Zuckerberg’s supposed underhandedness and his sheer brilliance) yet allows us to be ahead of the characters, anticipating the train wreck we know is coming.
Top to bottom this is first class filmmaking. In front of the camera, Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal seems dead on for the early days of the Facebook creator. Zuckerberg has grown leaps and bounds socially, so if you find Eisenberg’s performance a bit stiff, I recommend that you look back at some footage of Zuck in the early days. He was a little less socially prepared to be the youngest billionaire in the world, in charge of a 260 billion dollar company. Would you be ready to be “on” all the time? Andrew Garfield’s plays the partner/victim of Eduardo Saverin a little over the top, but again, it’s hard for me to imagine being shoved aside and not reacting in a way that seems a bit whiny. And then there’s Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker. I recently tweeted that if given six months to learn/train, Timberlake could probably do just about anything well. He didn’t need six months here. To act the part of the influential, all eyes on me playa? That is Justin Timberlake. So while I wouldn’t necessarily hand him an Oscar, JT kills it and makes it look easy. And what’s better, JT makes Eisenberg better — when the two are on screen together they completely sell the idea that Parker was exactly what Zuckerberg wishes he could be: a smart, socially confident guy, at ease with the ladies, “owning” every room the second he enters — life of the party and the guy everyone wants to be close to.
Behind the camera, “The Social Network” is executed nearly flawlessly. I walked into the theater as a huge fan of both Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, yet was concerned about what their collaboration (read: their combined egos) might produce. What I experienced was the most restrained I’ve ever seen Fincher, and though it’s not his best work, it plays perfectly. And Sorkin’s script is what we expect from Sorkin. He’s adapting here, and I’m sure he’s taking creative license in places, but his trademark witty banter is here in spades, from “fade in” to “fade out” and it makes for scene after scene of natural conversation, rich characters and two plus hours that fly by and make you wish the story went deeper and ran longer.
The film makes the argument that Zuckerberg’s social deficiency truly defines him. From the first frame, we watch him struggle with women. He frets and shows his envy when he’s not even a consideration for any of the Final Clubs at Harvard. And it’s this social exclusion that inspires a desire to set up his own club that everyone would want to be a part of — a club where he would be president. It all makes for a bittersweet story about a genius, able to achieve what few could, but whose insecurities made him at times a bit insufferable even a bit gullible, but ultimately it made him irretrievably introverted, seemingly incapable of realizing that we all have our faults, few of us were the High School Quarterback (or Harvard Crew captain) and that most of us have felt self-conscious and insecure about ourselves at some point in our lives. And once Facebook’s popularity (and value) exploded, he’d never know who to trust – how the hell can become a social extrovert now, even if he wanted to?
Regardless of the number of potential competitors that studios roll out between now and December 31st, it’s just a matter of time before the nominations for “The Social Network” are announced. I expect a best picture nomination, along with nods for Fincher and Sorkin. This film seems to purport to be a documentary version “Revenge of the Nerds,” and though Zuckerberg does have to pay for his revenge (literally), it’s nice to know he still gets a hell of a lot of glory. I hope he can enjoy it.
