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A two syllable compound word. An idea so revolutionary, yet so obvious that it has become the icon of the technological age. A dot-com success story that has withstood the flash-in-the pan glitz and glamor of imaginary money and has come out on top, with the likes of Google and Yahoo!.
It may sound dramatic, but Facebook is worth an estimated twenty-five billion dollars just a few years after its creation, and with its eccentric and a little bit autistic founder, Mark Zuckerberg, it makes a fantastic story.
Rewind to 2003, Harvard University. The campus was brimming with money-hungry future leaders just salivating to hit the job market and make millions with the next big thing. The commercial possibilities of the Internet was gaining speed like a freight train, and social networking was limited to a few dating sites and Myspace. Mark Zuckerberg, a sophomore genius, through a series of deliberate, yet chance encounters and interactions with his colleagues (because he doesn't truly have any friends), created the phenomenon that now boasts over five hundred million members worldwide.
The movie plays like something that is too good to be true; suspense, brilliant dialogue courtesy of Aaron Sorkin, truly interesting characters, and best of all, it is mostly a true story. The writers had to take some liberties due to the refusal of Zuckerberg and others involved to grant interviews. The public records however, through the lawsuits and statements of those steamrolled in the rise of the juggernaut company have pieced together enough of a story to be just believable enough.
David Fincher, one of my favorite directors since the mid-nineties, crafts this seemingly harmless story into an amazing journey and character study of Zuckerberg. He manipulates the audience's emotional response from intrigue, to abhorrence, to ultimately a sense of understanding and sympathy. Fincher hits the mark and will certainly be recognized with the minimum of a nomination.
You would think that a story like this would fail to captivate a large audience, but the writing is so excellent, and the events are portrayed so comprehensibly that it works. The details are what trap the viewer like a car wreck.
Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and the twins (who aren't actually twins to my surprise) Armie Hammer, and Josh Pence do an amazing job in an ensemble cast. Nobody stands out as miscast, and the lack of true star power is a tribute to Fincher's vision and confidence.
Eisenberg particularly captures the essence of his character with his quirks and clear signs of Aspergers Syndrome. He is distracted by rain on a window, runs through the snow in flip-flops, pounds away at his computer for 36 hour sessions, and ironically, due to his deficient social skills, develops the largest social networking site this planet will ever see.
This is the first truly great film of 2010. It is hard to imagine that it won't be a serious contender, and with the travesty that Fincher experienced in 2008 losing his Oscar to Slumdog Millionaire, this might be his year. If not, I will gladly stand in line to see anything he creates from this point forward.
Go see this movie. It is a barometer of where technology and the Internet stand in our fast paced, always changing world of business, and is done without bias or malice. 10/10.
