The Social Network

Thursday 27th January 2011
Downstairs at the Prince Charles Cinema

Providing a neat double header with Catfish, The Social Network opens with brilliantly zesty, frantic dialogue sequence with protagonist Mark Zukerburg (played by Jesse Eisenberg), the founder of Facebook and his soon to be ex-girlfriend Erica Albright. It's dialogue that has the West Wing's Aaron Sorkin's written all over it and with the dab hand of director David Fincher, The Social Network excels in becoming much more than a film about colleague kids threatening one another to 'lawyer up asshole'. Told through a varying array of flashbacks The Social Network tells the story of the beginnings of Facebook and the ensuing legal battle Zuckerburg had with fellow Harvard students desperate for a piece of the Billionaire pie. Interestingly, Sorkin and Fincher resist giving Zukerburg any substantial backstory. We know little of where he is originally from and about the upbringing he had although this being Harvard even British audiences will be acutely aware this is hardly a rags to riches tale. The manner in which Zuckerburg's invention and launch of Facebook is constructed - seemingly over a few nights of 'Eureka' moments with a crate of beers in front of his laptop - clearly seeks empathy from the audience with the otherwise unlikable character of Zuckerburg. Indeed as the credits roll up to the tune of The Beatles 'Baby You're a Rich Man' and the Facebook owner's current fortune is revealed one can't help but wonder - 'it could have been me' (of course it couldn't, but nonetheless this is the overriding impression Sorkin and Fincher's portrayal leaves upon us).

Jesse Eisenberg puts in a thoroughly acceptable if at times one dimensional portrayal of the future billionaire whilst surprisingly Justin Timberlake is utterly convincing as Zukerburg's mentor and eventual business partner Sean Parker. It is however, I would argue Andrew Garfield as Zukerburg's college roommate Eduardo Saverin who gives the most impressive, dynamic performance. Having plied his trade with a host of British television roles the future Spiderman is developing into an accomplished screen presence and his portrayal of the naive, fool hardy Eduardo provides the perfect antithesis to the arrogance and greed of Eisenberg's Zukerburg. In most part it is a film that is confined to long dialogue sequences played out within the University halls and lawyers hearings although when the writing is this good and delivered with such stellar performances and poised direction, the story becomes elevated in both credibility and cultural significance.

It looks a two horse race between this and The Kings Speech for the highest accolade at the Academy Awards this February and interestingly the two films share a familiar and recurrent theme; the effect of new technology has upon our lives. Whereas Sean Parker champions the coming of the Facebook revolution; 'We lived on farms, we lived in cities, now we live on the internet'. For George V the advances in radio technology are a position of threat to his standing as a monarchial figure - 'In the past, all a king had to do was look respectable in uniform and not fall off his horse. Now we must invade people's homes and speak... This family is reduced to those lowest, basest of all creatures. We've become... actors!'. It's an interesting parallel between the two and indeed further readings will be drawn from the result of the Academy Awards - American vs British, Contemporary vs Historical and so on. I for one hope The King Speech wipes the floor but for a film about the fight for a billion dollar franchise by a group of largely detestful American colleague students The Social Network is a commendable effort.

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