Plot - Yup I am late for the review but I am forced to write that’s the magic of cinema.Anyway The Social Network is a 2010 drama film about the founding of the social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits.
Facebook almost whole world is hooked with it. Aaron Sorkin adapted his screenplay from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 nonfiction book The Accidental Billionaires. The youngest billionaire- founder Mark Zuckerberg, or, any other member of the Facebook.com team were involved with the project, although Eduardo Saverin(co-founder of Facebook)was a consultant for Mezrich’s story-the book.
It’s about the beginnings of this phenomenon at Harvard University in 2003 when social nerd Mark Zuckerberg – ‘JESSE EISENBERG’ - aiming at revenge for being dumped by his girlfriend, created an internet rating of girls in the Harvard colleges called Facemash that landed him in a lot of trouble.
But that led to him being approached by sporting heroes, the rich and privileged Winkelvoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, both played by ARMIE HAMMER, to create a network of Harvard undergraduates. Zuckerberg agreed but then snowed them while he developed his own Harvard network called The Facebook.
His best friend at that time was Eduardo Saverin - ANDREW GARFIELD - who provided the start-up money for the scheme. The film is intercut with Zuckerberg’s later law suits with both Saverin and with the Winkelvoss’.
Direction - David Fincher is one of my fav director who has given us detached heads in boxes ("Se7en") and serial killers ("Zodiac"), & my favourite The Fight club.Now he made a beautifully made film with a super screenplay by Aaron Sorkin.
It is totally fascinating in that the human dimensions of friendship and loyalty, envy and competitiveness play out, particularly between the characters of Saverin and Sean Parker - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, the creator of Napster, who saw a good thing happening and rode with it.
To make a movie on real story, people is damn hard task but Master remains Master. David Fincher’s film is so rich with layers that one viewing won’t be enough. It’s witness to the shift of venture capital, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. It deals with new forms of class systems, where birthrights are outranked by cyber friends. And most prominently, it deals with a new kind of young people and their peculiar social etiquette.
Characters say a whole lot but rarely are they actually communicating. It’s as if they’re speaking to themselves and hoping someone will listen.The film isn’t really designed as a biography at all. Instead it’s a sort of cautionary tale about how fragile and tenuous real friendships are, and how the very idea of friendship has been devalued in the modern conception of “socialization” that Zuckerberg and Facebook represent.
It’s certainly a dark commentary on the nature of contemporary on-line “networking, ” and one wonders how those addicted to—and emotionally dependent on—Facebook might react to the message. It’s also the case, from a purely dramatic point of view, that all the characters in the film are so unlikable that viewers could simply be turned off by them.
Sorkin, Fincher and their cast and crew are so adept that they make spending time with Zuckerberg, Saverin, Parker and their associates fizzy fun. Sorkin provides reams of clever, harsh dialogue, and the cast delivers it with ease.
I won’t say its David’s best work but movie of the year & direction at its best. "The Social Network" is riveting from start to finish, and a master class in directing. And in this era of unchallenging hay, Sorkin’s script shines with intelligence and wit.
Performances - After the surprise hit Zombieland , Eisenberg instantly developed a avid fan base that appreciates the actor’s every single fierce film performance. In The Social Network , he leads a superstar cast and crew bringing the civilization-changing entity to life that is Facebook and the Mark Zuckerberg story.
I am sure Mark himself will admire Jesse.He is just outstanding, totally in the character, his riveting performance as the Facebook founder will go down as one of the best of the year . It’s a fascinating character and complicated in all the right ways. Even though he acts in a way that may be hurtful to other characters, it’s by the end of the movie, totally understandable.
1 actor who shocked me is Justin Timberlake playing Sean Parker might seem like a bang steep for Timberlake. The Napster founder turned Facebook executive oozes confidence to the point of cockiness. Mark Zuckerberg’s polar opposite, a man who can dominate any conversation and instantly become the centre of attention anywhere he goes.
But spends a few moments with Sean Parker and you’ll start to see something else. Sean Parker fall apart slowly on screen and as the character creates more and more bullshit you’ll see it in his eyes that he never believed most of it and even though he’s one of the cool kids, Parker’s driven by the same insecurity that drives Zuckerberg, the desperate feeling that he’s always on the outside looking in.
Andrew Garfield playing the good-hearted and utterly overwhelmed Eduardo Saverin, Garfield straightens his shoulders and his gaze to create the film’s complex moral center. Garfield gets in Eduardo with a natural ease and grace that Mark lacks.”3 shine of acts.”
Why to watch - David Fincher’s tightly wound "The Social Network" elaborates on techniques and contemporizes themes that we already know, but does so in ways that make them unrecognizable and even invisible. The script is filled with sharp, intense, witty writing, much of it performed at a thrilling rat-a-tat pace and played with sustained power.
Shot to shot, scene to scene, “The Social Network” nearly never puts a foot wrong or, really, does anything to make you feel less than compelled. T he opening scene in “The Social Network” sets the tone for a film capturing the dawn of Facebook Nation, It’s also routinely hilarious, the laughter coming both from the characters and the situations they find themselves in.
A confrontation between the preppy brothers and the President of Harvard University, the court room drama check yourself witty dialogues. You may not want to live inside Mark Zuckerberg’s head, you may not care for Facebook, but you’ll be drawn into the world of the film utterly. Fast-Furious crispy thrilling performances at best, what else you want from it.
Mind blowing movie.