Now at the AMC Empire 25
Directed by David Fincher
Written by Aaron Sorkin

It only takes about a minute for some integral pieces to fall into place for this movie. Jesse Eisenberg, as facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, shows us how well and quickly he will be able to spout the sharp dialogue of Aaron Sorkin. David Fincher, meanwhile, keeps his direction simplistic so as not to compete with its density. In the scene, Eisenberg demonstrates his character’s superior intellect and also arrogance, those things which set him apart from his peers, but also the emotional vulnerability that connects him to every teenager. His girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), is out with Mark and breaks things off. Mark has belittled her school and insulted her, all while finding himself on the outside of the most exclusive of clubs at Harvard. He seems between worlds, and would seem happier to fit snugly into at least one of them. But he’s really mostly hurt by Erica’s rejection, and he uses that energy first for revenge, and then also for something more.

Without going too much further into it: Mark blogs about Erica, insulting her right back, and meanwhile, with some friends, creates a website that compares the attractiveness of Harvard undergrads versus each other. It’s popularity and ingeniousness draws the attention not only of the adminstration of Harvard but of other students. The Winklevoss twins (apparently both played by Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) have an idea for a program to connect Harvard students, exclusively, and want Mark to program it. Zuckerberg uses their idea as inspiration – some, including those students, would say he stole it – and thefacebook is born. With later help from Sean Parker (a suitable Justin Timberlake), facebook’s influence spreads even more.

Much of the movie is told cleverly via flashback from a pair of depositions. We see that the relationships have broken down, and then we see how. It has the logic and exposition of a play, but wouldn’t have been as effective as one. Eisenberg’s take on Zuckerberg is not robotic as much as it is cerebral, and works best in smaller doses, and when it has other people to play off – whether he’s not being up front with CFO and co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) or cutting down lawyers or school administrators.

Turning back to Aaron Sorkin, he’s just about the perfect choice to have written the screenplay. There’s plenty of legalese in this movie, because it is so much of the story, and his experience with A Few Good Men and The West Wing speak to his success with it. But we can’t forget that, maybe above all, Sorkin terrifically captures self-importance. There’s not much walking and talking, but Zuckerberg’s confidence and even defiance places the character – if not also the person – firmly in Sorkin’s gallery of people with enormous balls.

Speaking of pitch-perfection, the music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is another fantastic complement. It’s largely subtle, but certainly familiar, insistent, mechanical, and ideally suited for a film about technology and an individual that, while also emotional, is highly logical, sometimes coldly so.

Especially as the modern world accelerates, it seems too infrequent that films are perfectly suited to their times. The Social Network is a story that could have been told a few years from now, but is so well-suited for today. It hits home for me, certainly for being on facebook, but also for having grown up in a time without computers connecting us. Going to college a few years before this story took place, I knew even then how alluring it was to get caught up in this technology, to see and especially hear things I would not otherwise have had access to. Who knows how quickly the film might seem antiquated – The Net doesn’t quite hold up on most levels – but that’s not for us to know now, or to care, really: This is a great movie, full of powerful moments, that addresses not only the nuts and bolts of the technology, but gets at the delicate humanity beneath it all.

In brief: The story of facebook, more or less. Superbly told.
4 stars/4 (A)