Film Review: The Social Network

This isn't just a film that shows the idea that eventually became the most used and most trusted social networking website: Facebook. Jesse Eisenberg portrays Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield, his friend Eduardo Saverin. Both mains are excellent, especially English actor Mr Garfield, who not only portrays his role well, but also has a believable accent to go with it.

Joseph Mazzello, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Josh Pence and Rooney Mara also star. And all play their roles well. As well as Brenda Song, who plays the psycho girlfriend from hell.

This is a well made film, each and every detail researched to the finest degree, with the young actors portraying their characters, based on real people, perfectly nuanced. I watched this with the audio commentary and from there, discover how much effort was put into the detailing of this film. They looked up the real Mark Zuckerberg's college application and found that he had been in a fencing club in high school.
Which, when Mr Eisenberg, the actor who portrays him in the film, did the same, found it gave him the same posture as well. All of the clothes he wears in the film, are clothes found in photographs worn by the real Mark Zuckerberg. The blog, that is shown in the film as one of the first opening scenes, is word for word.

And that is some of the detailing, not all.

David Fincher, best known for directing Fight Club, is excellent here. There are many deposition scenes, among many different others, and he manages to make each one unique and memorable. Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the screenplays for the TV series West Wing, the films Charlie Wilson's War and American President, brings his witty and clever writing skills to this film.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are the two behind the score, which is subtle and balances out well, visible but not in your face.

Comments

  1. This first comment is from the film itself, and the last two are from another film that Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for.

    "Gage: Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?
    Mark Zuckerberg: [stares out the window] No.
    Gage: Do you think I deserve it?
    Mark Zuckerberg: [looks at Gage] What?
    Gage: Do you think I deserve your full attention?
    Mark Zuckerberg: I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don't want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
    Gage: Okay - no. You don't think I deserve your attention.
    Mark Zuckerberg: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try - but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. [pauses] Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"

    "Robin McCall: I think the important thing is not to make it look like we're panicking.
    President Andrew Shepherd: See, and I think the important thing is actually not to BE panicking.”
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    "President Andrew Shepherd: Let me see if I got this. The third story on the news tonight was that someone I didn't know thirteen years ago when I wasn't president participated in a demonstration where no laws were being broken in protest of something that so many people were against, it doesn't exist anymore. Just out of curiosity, what was the fourth story?"

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