Sunday 17 October 2010

The One Where Facebook Is Better Than Twitter


Mike kept assuring me, "Don't worry... It's Fincher".

Then the 12A came up.

"FFS", said Mike. "It's not right a Fincher film being a 12A. What was the last 12A he ever did anyway?"

"Er. Benjamin Button, Mike. His last film." I replied, helpfully.

It needed have mattered. It took me three minutes to fall in love with Facebook Social Network.

Fincher is a master craftsman. Check back next week to read about how much I love him. (Alien 3, Baby!).

Here? Well here he makes a very talky film interesting. Everything I criticized about Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, doesn't apply. They couldn't be more different.

Fincher isn't showing off here, although it's a master class in editing. He has a pretty engrossing story, and he just lets it play out.

In the lead, Jesse Eisenberg is incredible. He couldn't be any more of a dick. But I just found myself drawn to him. He is in next to every scene, and kept surprising me. This and Zombieland bode well. I'll check out Adventureland too, although MC says it's disappointing.

Garfield, aka the new Spiderman? Well, I've been pretty vocal about my dislike of re-booting that series* - but I have to say... he did a lot to win me over. It was hard to not picture him as Spidey, but here, again, he carries his scenes.

I'm sat still a little surprised by how much I loved this film.

I did keep wondering how often I'll watch it. I mean, Fight Club is in my top three of all time. I settled on once a year. To see if I could spot any other Fincher moments if nothing else. Having a bottle of beer smash into the screen? That's up there.

But two bits struck me.

One, the music is incredible. In those opening moments, there was a bit where I though the violin could be heard above the unsettling intro music. Up pops a violinist in the centre of the shot. Zuckerberg shoots him a look.

Two, the rowing scene. Wow. I had heard that was stunning, so thought Fincher would be tricksy, and weave in and out of each rower. I won't spoil it, in fact some may even be meh, but he did the complete opposite of what I had in my head. I think it's one of those scenes that people will analysise in film school.

That along with the revelation that Facebook is in Cambridge now. Priceless.

I'm gushing.

So a word of warning. It's not for everyone. It's very talky. You could argue very little happens. But, I found that very little encapsulating.

And he did it all for one. (That's actually really clever of me. I fear only MC and I will get the joke. I swear.)

Cheer up. You never know. They may make a film about the start of twitter one day.








*FUCK YOU, RHYS IFANS, YOU ***** **** **** *******

No comments: