When your girlfriend dumps you, what are you supposed to do? Go home? Get smashed? Hang out with friends? Write about it in your blog? Yes to all these things. Maybe write a book or song about it, make a movie, whatever. If you’re a socially inept computer genius you do all those things; but instead of writing a book, you write a program that eventually leads to Facebook. Or so the story goes in The Social Network, the brilliant new film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. If you want the real story, don't see the movie At this point, it’s best to clarify that this review will not care whether the events narrated in the film are true or not (as many of the people who are portrayed in the film refute certain things about it). We accept that there has to be a good amount of fictionalization in service of the story and for what the film wants to say. Therefore, if you want the real story, don’t watch this movie. But if you want a compelling, exciting, and brilliantly told version of the story, then catch this flick. Facebook is undeniably an important social phenomenon, and I’m not sure if I’m preaching to the choir here. But when we think about it, Facebook has changed the nature of human interaction for the better. We’re better connected, always catching up with friends wherever they are, and meeting people online not through dating sites but through this platform mostly built on friendship. And therein lies the irony, as The Social Network shows us the socially maladjusted Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, creating Facebook, but at the same time still unable to create and maintain genuine human relationships. The film opens with Zuckerberg talking with Erica Albright, played by Rooney Mara, who in a matter of moments will dump him and provide the impetus for Facemash.com, which will eventually lead to Facebook. It's turmoil under wraps In this opening scene much is established: Zuckerberg’s need to be accepted, his desire to make connections, and at the same time his inability to appreciate the people around him. Albright struggles with Zuckerberg, who is at the same time arrogant and terribly insecure. He’s fully aware of how good he is, and yet he seems to need some kind of external approval, while also feigning that he does not care what people think. Zuckerberg in real life we know nothing about, but Eisenberg’s portrayal of Zuckerberg is masterful in its depth. We see how terribly conflicted he is from this opening, and throughout the film we witness through the smallest gestures the turmoil that he tries to keep under wraps. It’s a credit to Eisenberg that while the character supposedly is not expressive of his emotions, you can still sense what he is going through.
Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, right) moments before he's dumped by Erica Albright (Rooney Mara).Promotional still courtesy of IGN.com
From this opening scene where he is dumped by Albright, Zuckerberg heads home, turns on his computer, and gets a beer. Drunk and filled with spite, he designs
Facemash.com, a program that puts pictures of girls next to each other and asks users to rate which one is hotter. He becomes notorious for the program, and at the same time this leads him to make connections and gives him the confidence to put together what would become Facebook. Throughout the film we see this consistent theme of connection and disconnection. Zuckerberg’s efforts, the programs that he creates, bring people together: Facemash for ill, Facebook for good. He is immensely concerned with people and their interactions -- how to better facilitate those interactions and get people to connect with each other. And yet there is his own lack of personal connections.
Spare the histrionics, up the tension If his inability to make connections weren’t apparent from the scenes in flashback, then the film’s narrative frame would do more than enough to bring this conflict home. After the success of Facemash he was approached by Divya Narendra and the Winklevoss twins to design a dating site for them. His interaction with these three leads to a legal battle over who really created Facebook. Thankfully, we are spared from courtroom histrionics in this film as what we get are long sections in deposition hearings. Aside from the court case, we are presented another conflict, this time against Zuckerberg’s best friend. Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, is the money behind the initial launch of Facebook. He is also supposedly the company’s CFO, as well as co-founder. But as the film progresses we see the underlying tensions build between him and Zuckerberg. And the battle that is held in the deposition rooms is compelling for the kind of tension that is created between the two. It’s all underplayed, which is a credit to the film, as it allows that tension to just simmer.
Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) looks across the great divide separating him and his former friend, Zuckerberg (Eisenberg). Promotional still courtesy of IGN.com
That is one of the major triumphs of
The Social Network, the sense that everything is just simmering but at any moment it could all explode. Shot more like a thriller than a docu-drama or biopic, there is a sense of menace, of malice, of the possibility that at any moment something could go terribly wrong. Fincher’s framing and camerawork are outstanding because you hardly notice it, and yet it’s all so beautifully shot. A standout scene in terms of visual impact is the crew race that the Winklevoss twins compete in. The depth of focus here, the use of establishing and long shots, interwoven with shots of the Winklevii (it’s a joke you’ll get when you’ve seen the film) and their opponents rowing, and just the sleek execution of the scene make for a great level of excitement.
Alternately haunting, menacing, and rocking It’s this level that Fincher manages to maintain throughout the film. Even though we probably know the outcomes of things, even though the film is told in flashback, all of it is put together to maximize tension, to raise the sense of how important things are to these characters. The atmosphere of the film is further raised by the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. At times haunting, at others menacing, and sometimes just full on rocking (the music at the big parties in the film will remind listeners of Nine Inch Nails of the '90s), the music establishes an undercurrent of even more tension. And that tension, though it operates on the literal level as the various parties go at each other in the deposition rooms, and as Facebook rises in popularity, works best when seemingly nothing happens. It’s in the glances, in the quiet thinking, or in the restrained quips that things work. There is one scene that is reminiscent of a horror film, a door being opened, shot maliciously. And it works precisely because the rest of the film operates as it does and this sudden piece of action, though still understated, just raises the film’s stakes.
Timberlake's take is near perfect Speaking of the film’s stakes, these are all considerably upped by Justin Timberlake’s performance as the charismatic Sean Parker, founder of Napster who wines and dines his way into Zuckerberg’s heart. Timberlake is near perfect here as his character charms Zuckerberg while antagonizing Saverin. Parker becomes the wildcard that raises Facebook’s profile, but his own excesses threaten the company while at the same time bringing tensions between Zuckerberg and Saverin to a head. Once we have all these different personalities battling in depositions and in flashbacks, following the different settings and situations, we cannot help but feel how intense this all is. And that is no doubt one of the film’s major triumphs. A movie about a kid in his college dorm room designing a computer program becomes a story of love, friendship, business, and betrayal.
Charismatic Napster founder Sean Parker (played to the hilt by Justin Timberlake) wines and dines his way into Zuckerberg's heart. Promotional still courtesy of IGN.com
goes in my book not only as one of David Fincher’s best films (following the much-lauded and yet for me disappointing and boring
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) but possibly the best movie this year. It’s understated and at the same time emotionally powerful. Who knew a viewer could get so emotionally invested in friend requests and refreshing pages? I didn’t think it until I walked away from
The Social Network, carrying with me the triumphs and trauma of its characters.
- TJD/HS, GMANews.TV 
Carljoe Javier is a chronicler of Pinoy Geek pop culture, and has authored two books on the subject: The Kobayashi Maru of Love and And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth. He was a fellow for fiction in the UP and Dumaguete National Writers' Workshops, and his short pieces have been published in various magazines and periodicals. GMANews.TV
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