The Social Network

The Social Network

The Social Network is not about Facebook, but how it was created and all the mechanics behind it. A story that goes behind the popular website, delves into the lives of its founders. Director David Fincher has come up with a really good one here. The story revolves around Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the creator of Facebook, his girlfriend played by Rooney Mara. Mark is a Harvard student who decides to turn a social networking forum for the students of Harvard on internet in the form of a website. Along with him are his programmer friends and best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who chips in the initial capital required for the launch. What the movie tries to explore is not the rosy story of how Zuckerberg came out a winner and how he created this massive social networking web. Rather, what is great here is that Fincher explores the journey of his protagonist through all of it. The personal pressures, the tensions, straining of relationships, losing friends and all of the tough times that come along with any success story but are always blinded by the glamour of it all.

Positive

Fincher unspools the tale of the making of Facebook at a break neck speed there are no pauses for effect or slo-mo dramatics, every scene is part of the story and not a set up. Have to say that the acting in The Social Network is superb all round particularly Jesse Eisenberg who really paints an eloquent picture of the ambitious yet ambiguous Zuckerberg that he is portraying. Andrew Garfield is emotive as the dependable but ultimately frozen out Saverin. And what of Justin Timberlake? Well, he’s definitely an actor now. He plays Sean Parker (co-founder of Napster) when we are introduced to him he is all Rock ‘n’ Roll but he slowly slides down to sleazy punk.

Negative

In the interest of fairness I need to throw out some of the bits I didn’t enjoy or “get”. Although I just watched a two hour film I still didn’t really understand much of Zuckerberg’s motivations, we are presented with a number of options in the film; the girl, petty jealousy, ambition, rebellion, misguided, youth, and greed. Which is fine, much like real life motivations are often a mixture of different things. And in the press conference that followed it was highlighted how private Mark Zuckerberg was in both business and personal dealings.

My Score- 7.5/10

P.S. This movie has a good chance of winning the movie award but I hope it doesn’t.