Rating of
4/4
A Masterclass in Biopic Filmmaking
James - wrote on 09/08/22
On paper The Social Network seemed strange. The director of Se7en and Fight Club making a movie about the inventor of Facebook starring the guy from Zombieland. It was hard to see the film working out because it just seemed like a weird mixture of pieces. Boy was I wrong.
I can’t bring up the work Fincher did without first calling attention to Aaron Sorkin. From the opening moment of the film, a date between Mark and his girlfriend, you are steamrolled with good strong fast paced dialogue. This is dialogue that feels way more interesting than the usual writing one might find in a film like this. It might be one of the best screenplays he has ever written.
The movie cuts between two different dispositions and the past and Sorkin never misses a beat with his script.
While the script is one of the stronger aspects of the film, it is with the score that you find the true MVPs of the crew. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provide a killer score which includes an awesome version of In the Hall of the Mountain King which is used against the backdrop of a race. There work doesn’t ever feel like a character, but it does provide a unique feel to the film.
In saying that both the score and script feel out of place in a movie like that represents the reason why I love the film so much. It is a story I didn’t mind being told, being told by someone I didn’t mind being told it by. Often movies about people’s lives abandon any real soul and become dull attempts to illicit Oscar acknowledgement. This film runs circles around all those others
On paper The Social Network seemed strange. The director of Se7en and Fight Club making a movie about the inventor of Facebook starring the guy from Zombieland. It was hard to see the film working out because it just seemed like a weird mixture of pieces. Boy was I wrong.
I can’t bring up the work Fincher did without first calling attention to Aaron Sorkin. From the opening moment of the film, a date between Mark and his girlfriend, you are steamrolled with good strong fast paced dialogue. This is dialogue that feels way more interesting than the usual writing one might find in a film like this. It might be one of the best screenplays he has ever written.
The movie cuts between two different depositions and the past and Sorkin never misses a beat with his script.
One of the deeper themes of this movie, while not prevalent seems to be that reaching this level of success doesn’t make you immune to all the loss of friendships. I think weaving in the flip flop freak out into a story about how one of the richest people on the planet became successful serves as a compelling yet not distracting way of saying life will be miserable no matter who you are. I like that. While it only nominally relates, this is the second film of Fincher’s based of a book in which the wealthy can be seen as the enemy.
