Dir: David Fincher
But David Fincher’s dramatization of Facebook’s fiery birth is not a film about, as I so eloquently put it, Facebook. Who the Dickens would want to see that? Well, my sister would, but apart from her? Not many people.
It’s a film about men, blokes, geezers. Fincher gives The Social Network the Zodiac treatment. It’s a talky-talky film, with a script hot off the presses from West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin, but Fincher, as he did with Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr., compiles a list of leads who you actually don’t mind hearing speak. Jesse Eisenberg is the obvious standout as Mark Zuckerberg, the borderline Autistic genius who invents (or does he?) the legendary social fountain, but he is ably supported by Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg’s betrayed best friend, and Justin Timberlake as the unscrupulous Sean Parker.
There is no standard narrative, with half of the tale told from a court room and the other in flashback form from Harvard. Fincher keeps things interesting, spiking the scenes of what would be tedious technological geek babble with a frankly pumping soundtrack making even algorithms sound cool. And it is cool. The Social Network sounds cool. The Social Network looks cool. As with all Fincher films, there is very little light, and Jeff Cronenweth’s excellent cinematography evokes memories of an earlier collaboration with the director, 1999’s brilliant Fight Club.
But The Social Network feels most similar to Zodiac as a Fincherian (I can say that now, right?) piece. The look, the style, and the eclectic yet engaging relationship between its obsessive male leads make the film. It’s a tribute to Fincher’s skills as a filmmaker that he has taken an essentially dull idea (just ask my Dad) about a group of extremely unlikeable individuals and created one of the most gripping dramas in years.
Now, where’s the “Like” button?
**** ¼ / *****
“David Fincher has one new friend request.”
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