The Social Network

Robbed of the Best Picture Oscar in favour of The King's Speech, David Fincher's modern-age classic stands as one of the best films of the master director’s career, as well as proving to be one of the most important pieces of film-making of our generation.

Charting the creation of Facebook, the film employs a non-linear narrative as we follow Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg), who is faced with two lawsuits; one from the Winklevoss Twins (Hammer & Josh Pence) who claim to have thought of the idea of Facebook, and the other from his former best friend Eduardo Saverin (Garfield), the rightful co-founder of Facebook who was forced out as the company grew to become the phenomenon it is today. All the while we also bear witness to how Facebook grew from a Harvard based network to a worldwide craze, how exactly a friendship was destroyed and what exactly it means to be successful in the modern age.

Impeccably directed, wittily scripted by Aaron Sorkin, and featuring many a strong performance, The Social Network is a film of profound importance and is quite rightly considered a landmark in modern day American cinema.

With a slight coldness of touch and gentle craft, the film remains as perceptive, potent, and as surprisingly captivating as it was upon release in 2010. Whether you’re revisiting or signing up for the first time, The Social Network is a worth-while and vital cinematic experience.

Andrew Gaudion

Hailed as one of the year’s best films, David Finche’s (almost) true-to-life telling of the founding of Facebook is as funny as it is gripping. A bold and confident period piece, The Social Network depicts a defining era in the age of the internet with the help of razor-sharp dialogue, faultless pacing and a gifted cast.

As the admittedly embellished story goes, Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) is a somewhat socially inept twenty-something genius studying at Harvard University when, spurred on by bitter rejection, he launches a website that rates the attractiveness of his female peers. While the site is shut down, the premature seed of ‘The Facebook’ is firmly planted in Zuckerberg’s mind and after enlisting the help of a few wealthy and intelligent friends he soon finds himself sitting atop an internet phenomenon. But the road to becoming the world’s youngest billionaire proves to be fraught with turmoil as Zuckerberg faces the perils of lawsuits, jealousy and paranoia.

The idea of making a film about the formation of a website may not seem like the most exciting story to tell, and yet this film whizzes along with the speed of a perfectly plotted thriller. Benefitting from a witty and inspired script, every actor is on top form, with Eisenberg leading the pack as the complacent but somewhat naive Zuckerberg, making you want to simultaneously grimace and smile whenever he opens his mouth to land another acid-tongued put down or matter-of-fact retort.

Smoothing down the bleaker edges of capitalist greed is a potent sense of melancholy that makes The Social Network a tour de force of modern filmmaking. Slick, sad and socially aware, this is one to love, not like.

Luke Woellhaf