The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

[Jeff]

Scott Foundas gives the film a rave review in the upcoming issue Film Comment. Foundas has also programmed it as the opening film at NYFF.

[colinr0380]

I was wondering why the name Winklevoss rang a bell, until I remembered that they rowed for Oxford in this year's boat race.

[Jeff]

It's just Peter Travers, so take with copious salt, but...

David Fincher’s Social Network is the 1st film I've given **** in 2010. It’s the movie of the year that also brilliantly defines the decade

[Fiery Angel]

Never take anything Travers writes seriously....he's the opposite of Armond but equally suspect.

[James]

"defines the decade"? Bullshit. Tokyo Sonata "defines the decade". It's going to be really easy to spot critical garbage with this movie and its reviews. Sure, social networking has been a major cultural interest in the last half-decade, but to say a movie about the beginning of Facebook "defines the decade" is an immature, hyperbolic and hollow film criticism.

Edit: I'm a David Fincher fan and I look forward to the film.

[mfunk9786]

Perhaps it more defines the last 5 years than the decade, but I think a movie about the boom in social networking certainly says as much about popular culture and changes in our society as a similar film about television would have in the 1950s.

[James]

Perhaps it more defines the last 5 years than the decade, but I think a movie about the boom in social networking certainly says as much about popular culture and changes in our society as a similar film about television would have in the 1950s.

I won't deny that the film likely does say quite a bit about American culture (I wouldn't see it if it didn't promise similar rewards), I'm simply saying that in a decade of so much social, political and economic hardship, to say a movie about Facebook "defines the decade" is silly.

[tavernier]

David Fincher’s Social Network is the 1st film I've given **** in 2010.

He's lying

[Mr Sausage]

Perhaps it more defines the last 5 years than the decade, but I think a movie about the boom in social networking certainly says as much about popular culture and changes in our society as a similar film about television would have in the 1950s.

I won't deny that the film likely does say quite a bit about American culture (I wouldn't see it if it didn't promise similar rewards), I'm simply saying that in a decade of so much social, political and economic hardship, to say a movie about Facebook "defines the decade" is silly.

Is there a legitimate reason behind this, or are you simply saying it in order to show your disdain? Because I'd say anything that significantly alters the way humans interact with each other can, indeed, define a decade, and very easily. How silly you find the program itself makes not the slightest difference.

I recently read an essay David Foster Wallace wrote two decades ago on the subject of television, and he remarked that while television was incontrovertably changing human behaviour and interaction, those who did not grow up with television took exactly the view you do of Facebook, that the shallowness of the medium precludes it not only from being genuinely defining and influential, but also from being an important subject for art. The lesson I took from that is you have to be wary about letting your emotional reactions to new technology hinder your ability to see its effects clearly. I have no use for Facebook; hell I'm even using a pseudonym on there. That said, a lot of people's lives seem to revolve around this thing, and however negative my reaction to that may be, I don't deny that Facebook has the potential to exemplify how a whole generation relates to the world.

[James]

I suppose you may be right, and perhaps I overreacted just slightly, but I tend to question the motives behind journalists and film critics such as Peter Travers. That's all.

[Mr Sausage]

I suppose you may be right, and perhaps I overreacted just slightly, but I tend to question the motives behind journalists and film critics such as Peter Travers. That's all.

Oh, yeah, Travers' comment is probably bullshit, but that has more to do with Travers' than Facebook.

[Phil]

Not to defend Peter Travers or anything, but it's entirely possible that, you know, the whole "defines a decade" thing isn't strictly/exclusively tied to the fact that it's ostensibly about a ubiquitous piece of social media.

[eljacko]

I haven't seen the film, so I feel somewhat uncomfortable discussing its major points. But hey that isn't stopping anybody. Anyway, after taking the "defines a decade" comment with a grain of salt, I'm reminded of this article, whose major themes seem to relate to what Scott Foundas is saying. If the film is really about the quest for that sort of vain social acceptance, something I think Facebook itself is all about, then it would fit quite nicely with the idea a continuous yet ephemeral social philosophy that always has the appearance of redefining itself but in actuality never seriously changes, something the article claims is generation-defining!

I'm now much more interested in seeing this.

[flyonthewall2983]

Preview of the score.

[John Cope]

Sounds absolutely awesome (the kind of thing I would and do listen to all day). Hopefully this is what the whole thing will be like. Can't wait to hear this played over images.

[Jeff]

This is starting to screen for press. So far, the bloggers who've gotten a hold of it concur with the raves of Scott Foundas and Peter Travers.

The best films are rarely about just one thing, but rather that one thing as reflected through a variety of narrative prisms. And there is something to be said about a film that manages to distill an era while profoundly conveying a character study within...

I think it may be reaching for grandiose sentiments to say “The Social Network” is a film that “defines a generation.” However, I will say this: it is the most culturally relevant film Scott Rudin has produced since 1998′s “The Truman Show.” But while that film was a potent forecast of where we were heading as an entertainment-hungry society, this one is no less significant for its depiction of the here and now.

What struck me about David Fincher’s best film to date, The Social Network, was that it frames itself around Mark Zuckerberg’s need to have a social life where he had none before. Broken-hearted, too unimportant to be invited into a “final club,” a complete nobody. His inability to connect with people is probably, in real life, a spectrum disorder, like Asperger’s. In the film, he’s much of a robotic nerd hell bent on ruling the world one piece of code at a time.

As embodied by the brilliant Jesse Eisenberg who gives nothing short of one of the best performances of the year, Fincher and Sorkin’s Zuckerberg is someone who doesn’t have the kind of genius that creates ideas, but does have the wherewithal to make those ideas into working projects...

Sorkin is on fire with this script. There is not a fatty piece presented, not a glossed over sappy moment. It turns out that his collaboration with Fincher is a match. Fincher’s coldness and Sorkin’s passion are combustible. Both are obsessive compulsive with their projects and have harnessed their collective fervor into a story about a similar obsessive. For parts of this thing, you might feel like you can’t breathe. It is a heavy metal song. It is an aria. It is two hour drum solo. And it doesn’t let up.

They hold up a mirror that says “this is who we are in 2010.” Or maybe, this is who we are, period.

The Social Network represents the very best of both Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, a combination I never would have expected to see. Sorkin has always been such a humanist, and Fincher has always seemed to me to be (in the best possible way) an emotional terrorist. Together, what they've crafted is emotionally intense, surprisingly funny, and genuinely significant. This is an astounding film about one of the most important seismic shifts in communication in the modern age, and the way innovation and ethics are not often related.

This isn’t a simple film. It’s not the paint-by-numbers approach that you might see from a director less talented than David Fincher. At no point during the movie is the audience meant to sympathize with Mark. There’s no emotional scene during the climax where he crawls into a corner and bawls uncontrollably because he feels so alone. While the audience may feel the occasional shiver from the cold, Aaron Sorkin’s script never lets the audience feel distanced from the material. Eisenberg, recently stuck playing the nebbish, nervous weakling elsewhere, is stronger and more captivating here than we’ve ever seen him. There’s more than a film here; there’s a comment.

With a lot of help from Sorkin's (potentially Oscar-worthy) script, David Fincher has crafted his most humorous film since Fight Club. It's a lot more accessible and relatable than his 1999 wickedly dark dramedy, though, and during an awards season that may be packed with bizarre psychological head-trips and horrific, stomach-churning set pieces, The Social Network -- with its built-in audience of 500 million-plus -- may creep to the top of the pack as a certifiable fan favorite.

There were times when The Social Network reminded me of Zodiac; both films are meticulous in their details, and both use big world events as excuses for character studies. Like Zodiac, The Social Network is about more than what's it's about. The film cleverly finds ways to comment on how Facebook has infiltrated and changed our lives; it riffs on privacy concerns and the stresses relationship status updates have on us and the change in basic social paradigms brought on by social media and the weird weight a friend invite can have. It's a film that manages to make the reality of the founding of Facebook a metaphor for what Facebook is and has become. I don't know the factuality of it all - although with Fincher in the director's seat I imagine it's fairly high - but I don't at all doubt the truth of it all.

Absorbing and hilarious and smart, The Social Network is a very old fashioned movie about a very new world. It's the most accessible movie Fincher may have ever made, but that doesn't mean it's missing his touch. I'd love to see Fincher and Sorkin collaborate together again. I'm also excited to see The Social Network again. I walked out of it knowing that this was a damn fine film, but I suspect a second viewing may reveal it to be a great film, an All the President's Men for the Farmville generation.

[flyonthewall2983]

A free EP of the soundtrack is available for download. This website gives some more details as to when the full score will be available.

[sidehacker]

All the President's Men for the Farmville generation.

I hope this becomes the pull quote for the poster.

[dad1153]

This one had me at 'Written by Aaron Sorkin' so all the critical praise is just gravy. Day one for me (and a midnight showing if one is planned for big markets like NYC).

[John Cope]

An excellent write up from New York magazine and a discussion with cast and crew for The Times.

[Grand Illusion]

All the President's Men for the Farmville generation.

I hope this becomes the pull quote for the poster.

I don't know if All the President's Men has enough "Likes" to draw in a crowd.

[mfunk9786]

I always found All the President's Men to be rather boring when I watched it in high school and tried once again to watch it on my own in college. I appreciate what the reporters accomplished, but boy oh boy what a boring road it was to get there. During the 3 hours of JFK I'm thrilled by the tension of what's going on, what feels like life-threatening danger... and the 'back, and to the left' scenes in court feel like a cinematic equivalent of a tantric orgasm... but All the President's Men... yeah, we knew it was coming. Just get us there. Please. So we can all go home.

[Grand Illusion]

I always found All the President's Men to be rather boring when I watched it in high school and tried once again to watch it on my own in college. I appreciate what the reporters accomplished, but boy oh boy what a boring road it was to get there. During the 3 hours of JFK I'm thrilled by the tension of what's going on, what feels like life-threatening danger... and the 'back, and to the left' scenes in court feel like a cinematic equivalent of a tantric orgasm... but All the President's Men... yeah, we knew it was coming. Just get us there. Please. So we can all go home.

Dislike.

[Jeff]

Raves from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, lots of admiration from Manohla, Todd McCarthy invokes Citizen Kane (Steven Boone says this is kinda better), Glenn Kenny says it's "maybe" better than All About Eve, Andrew O'Hehir says it's closer to Gatsby.

I can't wait to see what Armond must be cooking up. I'm assuming that it will be something along the lines of "The establishment critics praising The Social Network refuse to acknowledge the undeniable majesty of The Last Airbender, a masterpiece which truly defines a generation."

[flyonthewall2983]

Interview with Reznor and Fincher about the score. It also features the full version of the track "In The Hall Of The Mountain King".