FILM SPOT - The Social Network (2010)

Excuse me, just before writing this review, I've got to update my Facebook status. Do excuse me.

*period of silence followed by clicking, cursing and weeping*

Right, done. So, the social network. The story of the unimaginable success of Facebook, garnering more than a few awards notices, is one that is laced with controversy, a little fiction here and there and is also probably the most incendiary drama of the year. The idea of a film following a website's start-up does not perhaps sound too promising on paper, but believe me, the story of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his enormous business enterprise is extraordinarily compelling. While the geek represented here is hardly in our sympathies all the time, owing largely to his extreme dickishness and apparently quite vindictive nature, he is nonetheless our anti-hero. We identify with Zuckerberg primarily because he rages against exclusion. Arsehole he may be, but we cheer him on as he deftly takes on the snobbish blue-blooded social paradigms and blows them to pieces. The odd thing about him is that you never know what he's thinking. Eisenberg presents probably one of the most enigmatic performances of the year as a genius who never reveals even for a moment what his thoughts and feelings are.

The most inscrutable performance of the year

Do not come to this film expecting heroes. To be honest, few people in this film come off as especially likeable, especially not Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker (the Napster dude) who comes off as a devious and manipulative slimeball - all kudos to Timberlake, who I think should definitely stick to acting. Zuckerberg is Zuckerberg; you dislike him because he's a massive dickhead, but love him because he says a) the truth and b) what we would say to the vindictive blue-bloods who try to undermind him at every turn. Our main sympathies lie with Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, in a phenomenal performance), not because he stands out as especially heroic, but because he suffers the most in this film. Most of the abuse directed at Zuckerberg is just water off a duck's back - he's used to it. Eduardo however, clearly has more at stake and is flabbergasted his friend has his priorities the way he does. One particularly telling scene has Eduardo arrive in California, soaking wet because he was not picked up by Mark at the airport as promised, and the ensuing conversation between the pair shows exactly who is going where. It will not end well for Eduardo; Zucerkberg knows this, and the frsutration in Eduardo's eyes show beautifully just how he is having trouble staying in the loop. Our characters are interesting, and the dialogue is whipcrack smart (take a bow, Mr. Aaron Sorkin). The surprise is how fast the film is. It takes us at breakneck speed through the early to mid noughties, describing how Mark Zuckerberg's enterprise grew into the phenomenon it is. It is an extraordinary business tale, the story of a true underdog achieving extraordinary things. It is a 21st century tale of power and deception that rings all the more powerfully because it happened. Sort of - just so people reading this know, I am aware there is some speculation regarding events in the film, but that's not the point - it is a story told about something true, not a true story per se.

The gestation of a phenomenon

The most interesting thing about the story however, is that it is about how the ultimate social reject created the ultimate social communication tool. So, why is a film that, if you reduce it down to the bare bones, about a couple of competitive computer programmers interesting? Because it is about our modern age of communication, a story of our era that actually means something as opposed to just being an overwrought biopic of some guy who has been given the Hollywood massage treatment to look nice and acceptable on camera (see A Beautiful Mind). How close this Zuckerberg is to the real one, I am not sure. Though the real one does seem rather more genial, it is a compelling and engrossing film of a genius who created a goose that basically lays golden eggs.