“The Social Network” is both a vivid, inventive fantasy and a dramatically realistic portrait of the 21st century. It succeeds at being both because Director David Fincher has touched on a subject that has become so ingrained in the subconscious of everyone who’s ever heard of the Internet while expanding on the biopic subgenre in a way as revolutionary as the idea of Facebook itself.
The film is not about Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the founder of Facebook, or Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), Mark’s one-time best friend, or Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the inventor of Napster and co-owner of Facebook or even about the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer), who claim Mark stole the idea of Facebook from them. Aaron Sorkin’s inspired screenplay weaves through time and different perspectives to create a powerful story about no hero, villain, victim or winner.
“The Social Network,” with all its rapid-fire, whip-smart dialogue, is a stirring metaphor for the complexities and tragedies of life on a web site where everyone is connected. And yet it is not pro or anti Facebook, the Internet or technology. It is a character sketch for what happened to these people in this screenplay in a time where the only friends Zuckerberg has are the ones we see, and not the 500 million users around the globe.
This is the argument against those who have all ready said the film is unfair to Zuckerberg. The film is not a true account of real events but the ideas that are constructed from the collective perspectives of all those with a claim to Facebook. Sorkin and Fincher do a brilliant job in painting that image.
And yes, Zuckerberg does come across as an asshole here. Jesse Eisenberg’s performance is so cold, wired and immersed. As he recites scathing blog posts about his ex-girlfriend or explains his ideas to Saverin, he always comes across as a man with his mind elsewhere. Eisenberg is not playing a role, giving attention or lack thereof to his costars; he is emptying his mind to the person online, dying for a friend request and virtual connection. It’s a wonderfully chilling performance.
He is the lead in a spot-on cast with remarkable chemistry. Andrew Garfield’s Saverin is a strong-willed yet vulnerable character. Justin Timberlake is a pro at playing the seductive playboy. And Armie Hammer is totally in sync with himself, an otherwise ho-hum performance until you realize the perfect unison and speed of the Winklevoss twins’ delivery is given by one person.
Sorkin’s screenplay is the smartest and wittiest of the year, being spontaneous and insightful at the same time. And Fincher has his work cut out for him making it come to life. The words move along with such swift clarity, and the editing seems to do the same, but Fincher has a way of occasionally mixing in slow motion cinematography. It sets an ideal pace for a film that never seems like a barrage of overly intelligent people parroting technical jargon or worse, pop culture references.
“The Social Network” is not a history lesson. It explains how Zuckerberg started a blog at Harvard that ranked the hotness of girls at school and used that concept to reach out to everyone in the world who wanted to stalk, chat and see everyone they knew. It also leads us to the point where both Saverin and the Winklevoss twins simultaneously sue Zuckerberg for rights and ownership to Facebook.
But it comes to no clean conclusion, never claims complete facticity and takes no sides. It merely enchants.
4 stars
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