Random Review – The Social Network

This movie is such a touchy subject.  All I’m going to say about its veracity-related issues is that I wish they didn’t bother me as much as they did.  Imagine if somebody made a movie about you – using your name, appearance, known aspects of your personal and professional life – but created you into a character that would forever alter how you were seen by the world.  God only knows who the fuck the real Mark Zuckerberg is, but everyone who sees that movie – me included – is going to think they know him, and that he’s basically a sociopath.

That said, I enjoyed it.  I can’t say I was overly impressed by the writing – honestly this might be the first Aaron Sorkin project I’ve ever seen – though the fast pace and rhythm was refreshing at least, and there were some choice zingers.  It’s more Fincher’s movie, for my money, and the best sequence comes early with a series of shots of Zuckerberg walking across the ersatz Harvard campus.  Visually (and aurally, as supplemented by Trent Reznor’s tense, menacing score) the sequence is moody and evocative, similar in look and effect to that wonderful shot of suburban houses near the start of Fincher’s “Zodiac,” in the way that neither quite look like anything you’ve ever seen before.  Jim Emerson has some great thoughts on that sequence over here (it’s the best piece I’ve read so far about this movie).

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