You know the way I love to watch old movies as a way to examine the world that once was? Well, this is the movie our children and grandchildren are going to be watching when they want to understand the world the way it was way back in the first decade of the millennium. By the way, did we ever decide what to call that decade? Because I was confused at the start and feel as if it never really got resolved.
Anyway, I have to admit that I was one of the doubters of The Social Network. I mean, that title's preposterous and it spawned a vibrant field of parody trailers which I will now show you:
The Auction site
The Social Network is the story of Mark Zuckerberg who basically pissed off everyone who knew on the way to becoming a Facebook mogul. The movie transports us back to the internet heyday of 2003 (back then, back then...)back to a simpler world where to keep up with their friends people actually had to talk to their friends and not to the world of now, where you know about Facebook. The film is told in flashbacks at the various depositions that Mark Zuckerberg and his plaintiffs give. He sort of steals Facebook from some annoying rich twins who as much as Zuckerberg pissed me off, were pissing me off more: "We're going to row in the Olympics..." Ooh, ahh. No British accent, Winklevoss, so I'm not impressed. He meets up with the Napster founder played by Justin Timberlake in a great manic performance. (By the way, remember Napster? Wasn't that great? I like iTunes and all, but remember FREE MUSIC?!) With JT he manages to cut out his best friend who put up all the money for Facebook. Jerk. Jesse Eisenberg is very good in his role as an offbeat genius, who we never quite know what he's thinking even though he's the character we spend most of the film with him, we see him from the outside. I almost felt something like pity at the end when Zuckerberg keeps hitting refresh to see if his old girlfriend has friended him yet.
Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is sharp and great as usual, making me long for the days of The West Wing before it jumped the shark. Director David Fincher keeps the look of the film is dark and brooding like Zuckerberg himself and not showy at all, in fact relying heavily on Sorkin's words fitting for a movie that is in essence about statuses and words on a screen. Of course, the surprise of The Social Network is that it didn't suck and may well have lived up to the hype. I think it may well be a classic, a movie for future generations to watch and see how Facebook started when they're living in some sort of Tron meets Facebook world.
So, be sure to like this post on Facebook, then share it for your friends to like and tell me what you think of the post in the comments. Also, don't forget to vote in the poll to the upper left of the screen about which movie should win Best Picture.
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