Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Social Network

is one of the most intelligent, engrossing films I've seen in a very long time, a feat made all the more amazing by the fact that it contains so few sympathetic characters. Writer Aaron Sorkin and Director David Fincher make a great team, as Sorkin's trademark rapid-fire dialog and Fincher's strong visual style pull you in and never let you go.

By way of full disclosure, I must confess here to being a stone Sorkin fan. If the man wrote a script about doing laundry, I'd watch the film version of it.

On the other hand, I'm not a big Jesse Eisenberg fan, but I also have to say that his performance in this movie was wonderful. At turns detached and fully engaged, insecure and arrogant, and technically brilliant while socially challenged, he is always running on a combustible mix of intellect and anger. Even more impressive is the fact that he sustains this performance while being on screen almost the entire film.

I'm not going to bother to recap the story because either you already know what it's about or you probably won't enjoy the film. I will note that it's rather amazing that we're watching an adaptation of historical events that started a whole seven years ago; time is certainly flying ever faster.

If The Social Network doesn't garner at least four Oscar nominations--Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, and Best Picture--it'll be a crime. Go see it.

5 comments:

Todd said...

I saw it today as well. I found it to be brilliant for all the reasons you described.

How often is a movie this good from the very first moment to the last "click"?

Mark said...

In my opinion, almost never.

Todd said...

Practically never. I look forward to seeing the movie again - which is rare for me to say.

Griffin said...

Damn, it was on my pass list. Now I shall have to bump it off...

Mark said...

Griffin, I hope it doesn't disappoint you.

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