I have just finished watching the Social Network. It was a great revelation to learn about how something that has been an integral part of my life for the last few years had come into existence.
However, I also felt much depressed by the film as it highlights the terrible truths of the business world.
It's a dog-eat-dog world. The movie was full of betrayals and backstabbing that it left me with a heavy, heavy heart after watching. The contrast of light, cheerful music with the terribly-bleak tones of the subject matter added a 'matter-of-factly' dimension to the narrative.
Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed as betraying the initial sources of the idea (whom he ended up paying 65 million to). But the betrayal that left the greatest impression on me was how he backstabbed his only friend, Eduardo Saverin, who had funded Mark Zuckerberg and the company because he believed and trusted his friend. I felt that perhaps part of why Zuckerberg was so readily led astray by people around him and forgot the contributions by his only friend was due to his youthful foolishness. Everybody has made mistakes when they were young, and even the brilliant Mark Zuckerberg was no exception. The movie however, put youthful mistakes into perspective, highlighting possible devastating consequences of even the simplest misguided actions.
Overall, I was very impressed with the style of direction and photography. Rich, dark tones reminiscent of Zodiac brought out the historical Harvard environment to great effect, whilst the meeting rooms in the law firms had a majestic, modern feel to it.
Eisenberg's Zuckerberg was a very grating character, completely at odds with the laughing, affable image the public had associated with the person. Kudos to the actor for bringing to life such a memorable and believable character, though I find it much exaggerated over how he actually is.
That said, I will always be reminded of my impression of him from The Social Network, and will probably always look out for signs that the movie was actually right.
On a side note: the trailer does not do the movie justice. I felt that the front part was too slow, and created the feeling that the movie was another boring biopic. It's not. It has got so many intriguing, multi-dimensional characters going for it.
i think it is a way overated film. Don't see wat all the fuss is about. Didnt receive much morale from the story either. Watever the movie potrays seems to be largely at odds with public perception of m.zuckerberg.
ReplyDeleteBut all the while the actor playing zuckerberg had this evil menacing look going on, there's no layers to the character. there's no growth of the character at all from b4 and after fb succeeds. the film shows zuckerberg to be an asshole from start to end.