REVIEW: The Social Network

The nearest cinema to me is half an hour's drive down the carriageway, lost amidst an industrial estate of vast, sad, corrugated-steel warehouses. If you can't drive (like I can't drive) then you're faced with a thirty minute walk, followed by a twenty minute train journey, followed by a Tolkien-esque mission through a valley flanked by council estates where kappa-clad fourteen year-olds scream around on miniature dirt bikes like floating chainsaws. Past this: the long, dystopian road through the factory zones- past tyre outlets and garden centres- down one-man-wide alleyways swamped by discarded crisp packets and Volvic bottle bongs. The Odeon sits on a man-made crest, looming over the tarmac flatworm like the haunted house of Disneyland.

Thankfully for poor souls like me a local theatre now shows movies for a short run, albeit a little while after their official release. Many times I've seen my days flash before my eyes on that old movie run. Indie kinos save wimp lives. Fact.

The Social Network was on the menu last night; a film having received nothing but praise from the journos, most interestingly for Aaron Sorkin's screenplay (note: when a script gets exceptional praise, it practically guarantees the film to be worth time).

David Fincher's biopic on the inception of Facebook and the following lawsuits to hit creator Mark Zuckerburg between the eyes didn't sound like the pacy 'thriller' it turned out to be. If you read my blog two days ago then you'll think I'm a liar for saying I only saw TSN last night because THIS IS exactly what I wanted.

Sorkin shuffles the narrative like an old-hand card dealer. We have the Winklevoss/Saverin lawsuits framing the story, cutting to and from the events building up to them at lightning speed. For a wordy piece, this film packs some snap- and being set predominantly at Harvard University intelligently steers away from teen-comedy cliche. Rather, the use of music alludes more at first to a horror before lapsing into the foreboding synths and computerised beats of a techno-drama.

Jesse Eisenberg- resembling an almost-man genesis of Michael Cera- plays Zuckerburg as the intense supernerd hell-bent on world domination but hell-bent against selling out. His focus and ruthless intelligence reminded me of the kind of guys you see (or seldom see) in school scratching their eyes like weasels- einstein haircuts- secretly inventing a hydrogen explosive which can only kill rugby players. His vulnerability isn't the allure of money, but the allure of the cool. Led by the Pied-Fonzie Sean Parker (the creator of Napster, played charmingly by Justin Timberlake), Zuckerburg chases the dream of Silicon Valley, compromising his partnership with hopeful businessmen Eduardo Saverin in lieu of the rapid success promised by his new wildcard bezzie.

Many people have already seen this film and concluded that Zuckerburg was a self-centred arsehole who sold out all of his friends to get rich. I must admit that I do see cracks in the idea that he "doesn't care about money", particularly because I don't believe that somebody who doesn't care about money could possibly become the youngest billionaire in the world. Still, at least from his portrayal in this film, I'd assert that Zuckerburg just wanted to use his loaf to make one of the most successful web programmes in history, and in order to achieve this he had to make some sensible-seeming decisions.

Saverin- whose character has the most dynamic range in the film being both the success and the betrayed- comes across as a man whose inexperience and lack of commitment/insight (to the scale of Zuckerburg's at least) cost him the full rewards of his efforts. By distrusting Sean Parker's ingenuity and not following Zuckerburg to California he missed out on the genesis of Facebook from monster to mega-monolith, foolishly thinking that a nineteen-thousand dollar investment would secure his almost fictional role as co-CEO.

The Winklevoss twins provide most of the comedy relief in the film. Their arrogant and childish determination paid off big-time in real life, though on-screen it seemed like their battle was almost lost. Somewhere around the hour-mark, in a scene incongruous with the rest of the film, the twins lose a rowing race in England. What was Fincher thinking of there? Forgetting this, Armie Hammer did a great job of playing both brothers. I was convinced that they were different actors.

Unless you have to endure two hours of hacking through savage jungle trails to get to your local cinema this week you HAVE to go see The Social Network. This is a great film, so do believe the hype. I've never seen a biopic so sharply scripted with compelling, interesting dialogue, nor with such a clever, contemporary narrative structure.

Despite the fact that you probably use Facebook every day you might not be aware of what actually happened in order to make this phenomenon of social networking an intrinsic part of your life. It seemed to happen just like that, didn't it? Now you don't call your friends. Now you don't give people your phone number or your email address. Now you don't even 'poke' people; you 'like' stuff. Even if you don't bloody like it you 'like' it.

The Social Network isn't going to change the way you use Facebook, but it's definitely going to help you understand where it came from and where we are in the world today.

On top of that... it's a bloody good film.