Monday, October 18, 2010

The Final Finding on Fincher's Facebook Film

A couple weeks back I posted on my mixed feelings about the premise behind David Fincher's "The Social Network." While i was intrigued, I was skeptical as to whether Fincher, masterful as he is, could draw much drama from the story of Facebook and its dorky creator.

I finally saw the film, and for the life of me, I'm still not sure if I was right to be apprehensive. On one level, my fears were justified. On another level though, "The Social Network" is a magnificent film.

Basically, I'm still where I was a couple of weeks ago.

When it comes to the language of film, few can rival Fincher. His biopic on Mark Zuckerberg is beautifully shot and well-told. The performances are all top-notch, particularly Jesse Eisenberg's dork-douche hybrid interpretation of Zuckerberg.

While the screenplay is highly fictionalized, most of the major points match the public record. Zuckerberg is painted as a driven, sometimes arrogant but always brilliant entrepreneur. Supporting players Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake are worthy foils, and the combination of performances and efficient rhythm make "The Social Network" an engaging if not riveting experience.

I say engaging rather than riveting as confirmation of what I'd originally suspected about the film when i first heard about it several months ago. The flaw at the core of this film is a subjective one: I'm just not all that interested in the creator of Facebook and his story. What can you do?

2 comments:

  1. I remember reading your blog post about this movie, and I still haven't gone to see the movie. Not because I don't want to, but mainly because I just don't have time while taking 17 credit hours this semester.

    But I do want to see it, even if I have to wait until it's released on DVD.

    I have read a lot of articles about the movie (mainly on CNN while theres nothing to do at work) and I've seen people say good things and bad things about the film.

    But when it comes down to it, I don't care what people think. I want to go see it because I'm curious. But I know how you feel, I'm not particularly interested in the life of Mark Zuckerberg.

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  2. I definitely did not even want to see this film when I first saw the trailer. I was like wow, already someone really wanted to make some money and easy. People know what facebook is so the hype alone will generate some value. But after seeing it I truly enjoy it for what it was. It was the inside look at what is to come for idea and copyright issues. As a photographer with many random ideas small or big it is crazy to think just an idea can be worth 65 million dollars. The film was very modernly filmed and the soundtrack was very intense and dramatic. It is nice to see something filmed with a tilt shift DSLR in a hollywood movie gives us little guys hope. The social network in my eyes was less about who and what happened but the morals, principles of being a young powerful adult.

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