Sharp and refreshing, 'The Social Network' has much to Like.

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2011)

Directed by David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), with a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men) based on a book by Ben Mezrick called Accidental Billionaires, The Social Network is the story of Harvard undergraduate and computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg (Jason Eisenberg), who works on a new idea for a social website with his friend straight out of his dorm room. Called Facebook, it becomes a global social network, garnering 500 million users and making Mark the youngest billionaire in history, while also creating some enemies and legal complications.
Right off the bat, let me first say that The Social Network is a well-made film. Director David Fincher's stylistically visual direction, Aaron Sorkin's acerbic dialogue, and Jason Eisenberg's near effortless-seeming performance are what make this film beyond the usual biographical businessman-and-his-dream Hollywood tale. What's unusual about this film's subject is that the main character of this film is to this day, quite young, which also means the story doesn't span a very long period of time. So, a good majority of the film focuses on the details--dialogues, interpersonal relationships, and brain-storming sessions. I take it the main reason for even making a film about this is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg holds the title of being the "youngest billionaire."
The majority of the film takes place in Harvard, where we see Mark, his calculated personality, his interactions with his friends, and nurturing of his ideas. Jason Eisenberg is able to bring out the nerdy genius of Mark Zuckerberg with spit-fire delivery helped by witty, acerbic dialogue and geek-speak. His performance is convincing and makes it seem like Eisenberg is just playing himself and that he is the genius. Also good is his business-minded best friend, Eduardo Saverin, played sympathetically by Andrew Garfield (reportedly the next Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot), the more level-headed of the two owners of Facebook, portraying both the uneasiness and insecurity of being out of the loop when Sean Parker (played smart and confidently by Justin Timberlake), founder of Napster, comes into the picture, wanting to take Facebook to another direction. Advertisement
On the whole, the story is about how Facebook came to be and the people who created it and people who fought against it. There are some familiar conventionalities in this film like many biographies of this kind, along with greed, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Structurally, it's nothing new. The story is framed within a meeting between Mark and the people and their lawyers who want to sue him for breach of contract or intellectual theft. We go back and forth between this current event and the past events in Harvard that helped create this popular network.
Not unlike Fight Club, David Fincher has a way of making any scene visually interesting. With camera blurs for depth of field, along with his sense of composition and color schemes, he makes scenes feel both surreal and personal. Even the beginning wide-shot credit sequence of Mark walking through the Harvard campus amongst groups of people he doesn't know is interesting in how it visually portrays the whole "social network" idea.
While Zuckerberg is portrayed sympathetically in this film, he isn't particularly seen here as a good guy, either—thus, the enemies. I suppose the irony of the film is how a site that is meant to create friends also created enemies for Mark. I enjoyed the quick-witted dialogue that came out of Mark's mouth. They don't try to dumb down the character for the audience, which is refreshing. To appreciate this film, it probably helps to know how Facebook looks like and how it works. For those who have used it, they know Facebook itself isn't really that complex or new—it's a site that is incorporated in such a way that it's easy, loads quickly, is somewhat safe, and works great with plugins. And, it is, of course, quite popular. There's little doubt there will be some who will be confused by the computer jargon in this film, but they need not worry as it doesn't contribute much to the plot (yet still cool to hear anyway). I wouldn't go far as to say this film defines the modern generation, like some have, which I found to be a strange statement. It is, however, a sharp, nicely-made film, and more refreshing than usual. I'm sure many users will have little problems putting this film on their Facebook's 'Like' list.
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