The Social Network

**** stars

As Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) navigates through the complex web of the Harvard University campus during the opening credits of David Fincher’s mesmerizing film, The Social Network, it struck me deeply that there seemed to me a dark and crude awakening just waiting to lurk up upon this brilliant, but deeply tormented soul. I also knew that I was in for one hell of a cinematic treat.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin dives head first into the social and legal world of the founders of Facebook and how this story seems to be the defining one for the Internet generation. The result is a complex and unforgettable look at the brilliant but cold, eccentric yet egotistical, and passionate but maniacal Zuckerberg and his posse of ex-friends turned enemies.

The story begins with Zuckerberg going head-to-head with the thing he fears the most: a real life connection with someone. This time it’s a girl, at a bar, which leads to her telling him off. The clear irony here is that the man who has more “friends” in the world can’t find a single person who’d want to be his “friend”. The only one that ever came close was Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) the CFO and co-founder of Facebook. But we all know that story. Mark does everything in his power to make sure that Facebook is his and no one else’s, which is why the last scene in this movie is so rivetingly powerful.

Once Mark and Eduardo have enough to launch the site, the return is almost instant, having 22,000 hits in one night.

Which leads to what’s now a 500,000,000 member network.

How social.

Having read the script, I can assure you that it’s great. The movie however, is even better, which proves just how incredible of a director Fincher is. It’s hard to argue that this is not his best film. It’s poetic, flawlessly paced, and layered with razor-sharp performances from its leads. Justin Timberlake is perfectly cast as Sean Parker, the creator of Napster who jumps on Facebook with Mark to grab as much of the pie as he can. His flawed character, along with Mark, leaves him with only that: Facebook, plenty of friends, but it’s hard to find anything real about it.

Can’t say the same for the movie.