Comments | selenak: The Social Network (Film Review)

selenak

The Social Network (Film Review)

Oct 22, 2010 13:24

Now I've seen comparisons to Citizen Kane (both film and character) for this David Fincher/Aaron Sorkin collaboration, but not the one which occured to me within ten minutes of this entertaining, frustrating and highly interesting exercise in RPF. But then, I'm not sure how many reviewers watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

( Warren Mears: This Is Your Life (If You Got Out of Sunnydale) )

the social network, film review

Comments 16

greenpear October 22 2010, 11:36:58 UTC

Have not seen the film yet. But when I do it's good to have this comparison in mind. I think I partly avoided it due to the "Kane" comparison.

selenak October 22 2010, 15:07:08 UTC

I can see where the "Kane" comparison came from in terms of narrative structure, but it's definitely its own thing and doesn't try to be Orson.

likeadeuce October 22 2010, 12:30:19 UTC

Great review -- I haven't seen the movie (and am not sure I will) but the Warren comparison is pretty brilliant. I think what I was hearing of the movie reminded me of Warren & co without my being able to put a finger on it.

selenak October 22 2010, 15:09:47 UTC

Film!Zuckerberg is totally Warren without the actual murder, and I'm surprised other BTVS fans didn't pick it up before...

diotimah October 22 2010, 15:36:56 UTC

Thanks for the review. Seems fascinating, and I can completely see the Warren Mears comparison, Kane nonewithstanding.*g* And yeah, an unsympathetic-yet-compelling character who isn't flat, but also doesn't have a tragic background, or that one redeeming quality certainly seems interesting. Will check this out.;)

diotimah October 22 2010, 15:47:20 UTC

PS: I once saw a hilarious advice book on 'how not to write a novel' (which was even its title, I think), with 'extracts' from fake novels that included every mistake you could possibly think about. The 'but he loves his mum'-villain, i.e. the bad guy with one good quality to 'round him out' was one of the most memorable examples.*g*

selenak October 23 2010, 14:51:31 UTC

I'd be very interested in your own impressions once you get around to watch the film. And ha, "but he loves his mum"-villain is the perfect description for a certain type of characterisation. *veg*

diotimah October 24 2010, 19:16:44 UTC

I'd be very interested in your own impressions once you get around to watch the film.

I'll probably watch it this week, and will let you know my thought.:)

And ha, "but he loves his mum"-villain is the perfect description for a certain type of characterisation. *veg*

Absolutely. The cheap way to render your villain "complex".*g*

There's also a hilarious entry on historical novels and getting the language right, with the Pope asking Michelangelo "And do we have anything like a completion date?"*g*

kskitten October 22 2010, 16:29:41 UTC

As always, a brilliant review! Thanks for that. Have not seen the movie yet but this was an intersting view of the characters!

selenak October 23 2010, 14:37:58 UTC

It's definitely one of the most interesting ones I've seen this year.

embers_log October 23 2010, 00:48:10 UTC

a friend gave me the link to your review, probably because I did feel that the comparison to 'Citizen Kane' was warranted (pun?), not just because of the structure but also because of the theme of communication changing society for a new age....
I'm glad she did, I really enjoyed your review!
And like you I was stunned and amazed: when did Justin Timberlake learn to act!?!

I'm not sure Zuckerberg was punished at all... I'm not completely sure he deserved to be (he was a jerk to people who pretty much deserved it, he was used by as many people as he used. It is what it is). My biggest question ended up being, how did he ever get that college girl to date him in the first place (her breaking up with him seemed perfectly normal and unremarkable because he clearly didn't deserve her)?

I think Sorkin had a lot to say about the internet age (or whatever this ends up being called) where ignoring the people around you in order to communicate with people online seems to be 'normal'. I think it is kind of a great film.

selenak October 23 2010, 14:49:21 UTC

Why Erica ever dated film!Zuckerberg to begin with is indeed a mystery, but then again, she herself was presented as smart, so maybe his undeniable intelligence was one initial draw. Then again, "what did X see in Y?" is something I keep asking myself in real life a lot of the time as well, so "it just happened" works as an answer for me. :)

re: Citizen Kane - the reason why despite parallels I myself shy away from the comparison is that CK's characters, no matter whether they appear only briefly like Emily Kane or all through the film like Bernstein, are all very rich and layered. Even Kane's political opponent, Boss Getty, who could have been just a plot convenience, gains some humanity via his exchange with Emily. Sorkin is a brilliant scriptwriter, but there is no comparable moment for the minor characters of The Social Network to, say, Bernstein's story about the girl he saw only for a moment on a boat, Susan's "what do you know, it's morning!" at the end of her interview or "I have his trunk packed; I had it packed for a ( ... )