Of all the Academy nominated films this year, “The Social Network” was the hardest one for me to get excited for. It is the (semi-) true story of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and his plight through losing a girlfriend and creating the most recognizable internet social site ever made. Maybe it was due to my lack of zeal towards Facebook or the fact that all these events just happened and the film has not been removed from the real life event by many years. No matter what my feelings were towards the film, it did not change that it got nominated for eight awards. That does not mean I have to like it however.
“The Social Network” is a good film, not a great film. A great film is marked by a good screenplay. In suit, a good screenplay is interpreted and processed by a good producer, into set and costume designs. A good producer hopefully hires a good director, who then takes good actors/actresses, and helps mold those performances into award winning performances. There are parts missing in “The Social Network” and its scheme, especially compared to other films nominated.
The film has a good screenplay, adapted from a book, titled “the Accidental Billionaires”. Aaron Sorkin is a fantastic writer and I believe he takes the award this year. The writing is witty and fast paced, the kind of conversations most expect to come from Harvard students. At the same time, the film is accessible and down to earth, so even though it still flies over the heads of many, those willing to invest get the gist. So the film is off to a good start.
The film misses most design awards. No Art Direction or Costume Design for the film like “The King’s Speech” and its nominations. The film does come in with a rememberable Original Score by Trent Reznor and a producer for his band, “Nine Inch Nails”. The score is very contrastive to most films in this dramatic genre, and creates a soundscape completely original. I also believe “The Social Network” has a chance at this Oscar.
The last and final Oscar I believe “The Social Network” could take is Best Film Editing. The film is all editing and this was one of my only comments after the film. It is hard to care about the characters and we all know the outlines of the story, but to effectively cut together all these events happening at different times (i.e. the depositions and the actual events) takes a true artful hand and viewing the film again, I really enjoyed the editing. That said, I will probably lock on for “The Social Network” to win.
Best Directing did go to “The Social Network” at the Golden Globes and Fincher does deserve an Oscar, but choosing him would almost force my hand in declaring the film Best Picture under unofficial Academy guidelines (the winning director usually take winning picture). My pick for David Fincher is bias, though, and I can tell. After viewing “The Social Network” before nominations, I did not feel the Oscar worthiness coming from the film. Fincher, alone deserves the award for a compilation of simply great films in general. Should he then win for a film I do not agree to be his best? Probably not. Also, it appears that the DGA (Director’s Guild Awards) have already solidified the win for Tom Hooper and his job on “The King’s Speech”, a fact that I cannot argue.
The rest of “The Social Network” nominations will probably be unfruitful. Jesse Eisenberg does not deserve Best Leading Actor, especially with everyone else in the category, even though Eisenberg was a favorite at the Golden Globes. Best Cinematography will probably go to “The King’s Speech” as well, which seems fitting as almost everyone agrees that it will be a heated race between the two films in all categories. Best Sound Mixing should belong to “Inception” or at least something other than “The Social Network” especially with the sketchy sound in areas like clubs (i.e. Timberlake and Eisenberg are barely audible at a club discussing Victoria’s Secret and the future of his company).
Since the film came out, I have been argued with about the fact that “The Social Network” was going to be a big winner come Oscar night. I was told that I would not be happy during the ceremony because the film that I did not care for was going to win everything. Then the nominations came out and “The King’s Speech” dominated over “The Social Network” and now with the “Speech’s” recent big wins, it appears that the tides have turned and it is not so much set in stone. I look forward to seeing the film win the awards it deserves, but if it ends up taking the show and Best Picture, I will be surprised, and I cannot say pleasantly.
(15 OF 41 FILMS REMAINING)-(6 DAYS TO OSCARS)
Although, it was the main thing about the film, the cinematography was brilliant. David Fincher has an obsession with getting lighting spot on and with this piece once again he excels in this avenue.