Today I finished up my third shift at my new job, No Frills. It's nice. It's so much more laid-back than any other job I've ever worked, and as such I often find myself confused because I'm enjoying the work.
The newness of it will eventually wear off of course, and the monotony will set in and I'll want to shoot myself in the face. Until then though, I will enjoy it as much as possible.
The Social Network
I went into this movie with high expectations. The director, David Fincher, directed arguably the most brilliant movie of the 90's, and as such I was assuming this would be at least a little good.
I assumed wrong, it wasn't a little good; it was a whole ton of good.
I can honestly say that I love this movie. It's completely brilliant. There are so many strong elements to this movie that picking where to begin is like trying to eat France: you just don't even know where to start.
The first thing that really, really got my attention as I sat in the theatre was the dialog. Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse someone or other from Adventureland and Zombieland) has a long and almost confusing conversation with his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend Erika. The speed and inanity of the conversation is a lot like university; there is so much happening that finding where you were is just as hard as establishing where you are going. The scene helps to establish that this movie is going places. It sets the character of Mark Z. perfectly, or rather, realistically. He is a tortured anti-hero, consumed by his own genius in a subtle way. He is snarky, sarcastic, sardonic and all around a fascinating protagonist.
The next major element to catch my attention was the soundtrack. After Mark is dumped, he jogs back to his dorm. As I sat watching him be the most athletic he would be in the movie, I wondered why there was dark industrial ambient music pumping out the sound system, then the credit for scoring was given to Trent Reznor, and it all made sense. Trent Reznor is best known as the creative force behind Nine Inch Nails, and a prodigy of sorts to Marylin Manson.
The scoring for the movie is immaculate and fresh. Relying heavily on electronica-based mood music, Reznor helps to set a perfect atmosphere, not just chronologically, but personally.
Next up on the chopping block: Film technique. David Fincher does a stupendous job behind the camera. The most standout usage to me was that of focus, and how it was employed for different scenes. It was not always on the most obvious spot, so it made you look for a spot to rest your eyes. It forces you to examine the shot, much in the same way the over-all feel of the movie forces you to re-examine it as a whole. There is a myriad of nuances strewn throughout the movie that subtly mirror facebook: the appearance of characters sporadically, similar to Facebook's newsfeed, the non-linear timeline constantly giving us different snap-shots into different parts of mark's life, akin to one's 'wall' on facebook. I feel that in order to fully appreciate the scope of the movie, I'd have to see it again.
Even looking back on it now, I know there was more that I liked about it, but it's all garbled together in my still astounded 2AM mind.
I think it just boils down to the fact that this is a character driven movie. Yeah, sure, the plot is awesome and engrossing, but where the movie really earns its stripes is in the acting. It's like watching REAL reality T.V. with actual people instead of people trying to be silicone versions of someone else. But, they're just really good actors. Really, Really good actors.
I would be surprised if this movie doesn't win an Oscar or two, and I'd be downright appalled if it wasn't even nominated.
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