While reports of David Fincher’s “The Social Network” being a modern “Citizen Kane” have been absolutely outlandish and ridiculous, Fincher’s courtroom drama about wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg is a near masterpiece and one that works as a cultural zeitgeist depicting the beginning of a technological revolution and the end of intimate human communication as we know it. “The Social Network” is one of David Fincher’s most verbose and openly intellectual mainstream films to date, a film about the cultural zeitgeist that is social networking and the social animal that derived such pleasure not only from devising such a complex and magnificent program that would distance each other forever that ironically required close and intimate quarters and contact, but from using this program to scorn the individuals who used their own upper class status to keep themselves differentiated from Zuckerberg.
Throughout the course of the film Mark Zuckerberg is a social animal whose entire morality is based around his ability to distance himself from others and use his facilities of paper and pen to keep him in his own dimensions that will provide a more technical aspect to every element of his court room proceedings, be they the outrage of the Winklevoss brothers who threaten him at every turn with physical and financial harm. Or the evident betrayal and despicable turncoat of his friend Eduardo Saverin. Writer Aaron Sorkin provides an incredible and stark vision of the court room drama that alternates between the cold excesses of the court room in to the even colder flashbacks of Zuckerberg, whose entire world revolved around living with the haves and retreating in to a reality of have nots.
Only when he was able to scheme and worm his way in to the groundbreaking concept of a social network for Harvard, could he take the haves and turn them in to an equal individual to the have nots, which infuriated not only his contemporaries, but even his closest confidants. The basis that the entire affair of inventing Facebook revolved around getting revenge on a lover who scorned him will be far-fetched to even the most excited viewer, but that set aside, “The Social Network” is teeming with rich performances from a cast of up and comers including Jesse Eisenberg who commands the screen and Andrew Garfield who should have garnered an Oscar nomination. It also possesses a richer grasp on our reality that is summed up by our ability and or inability to communicate through black text on a beaming white monitor.
Among the Special features for the Two Disc DVD Edition, Disc One offers the function of dual audio commentaries. Commentary number one features a full audio commentary from director David Fincher, while number two features a full audio commentary by writer Aaron Sorkin and the entire cast of “The Social Network.” Disc Two hosts a ninety minute multiple part documentary called “How did they ever make a movie about Facebook?” about the conception and development of “The Social Network,” a movie that proved many wrong in regards to dramatic content and how it could have garnered a considerable doubts. There are also some incredible moments during the documentary in which we gain insight in to the creative experience including the script reads in which Sorkin and Fincher not only attempt to create as much dramatic tension as humanly possible, but even bicker and squabble about certain moments and character motivations.
The directorial process is so meticulous they even coordinate the waitresses and what they should serve each character based on the moment of dialogue delivery. It’s incredible. Among further supplements there is the seven minute “Jeff Cronenweth and David Fincher on the Visuals” about the grasp to turn the modern world in to a nineties mecca, as well as turning Arnie Hammer in to twins. The seventeen minute “Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter, and Ren Klyce on Post” about the challenges of the editing crew to conduct all of the dialogue heavy scenes and combine them in to one grand drama; there’s the eighteen minute “Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and David Fincher” on the Score” as well as the companion “In the Hall of the Mountain King: Music Exploration” a marvelous audio interactive sequence that allows you to contrast and compare scores from composer Trent Reznor.
There’s also the four minute “Swarmatron” where composer Trent Reznor uses a musical instrument called the Swarmatron to define Zuckerberg’s character. And finally there’s an incredible interactive feature allowing you to take a look at the construction of the Ruby Skype scene through various shots and sequences that give the viewer a better definition of the scene altogether. Filled with over three hours of extra material for fans of Fincher’s near masterpiece, “The Social Network” is definitely a marvel of filmmaking with a statement to make about our culture, and it says it with a rich tapestry of top notch performances, and ace screenwriting. This is a Two Disc Edition worth purchasing.