"Drop the 'the'. Just 'Facebook'. Its cleaner. "
Thus departs Sean Parker, essayed with flair by Justin Timberlake, from the Chinese restaurant in NY, after his first meeting with Mark Zuckerberg. It turned out to be his biggest contribution to the phenomenon (that's a gross understatement!) called Facebook, which started out with the hence-dropped prefix to its name. Did you know?
Sitting in the theater, watching the journey (supposedly fictional) of the social networking site (which renders the movie its name) from its genesis in a drunken night's vendetta on his now ex-girlfriend, to its revered & feared status of being the third biggest 'country' in the world, and growing, is an experience that warms the cockles of your heart, and tugs at your grey matter too. No wonder the critics are raving about it being 'the smartest movie out this year'. You sit in the darkness, smiling, and thanking God & David Fincher for such a wholesome brain food.
There are scenes after scenes, which satiate your hunger for quality cinema. Especially the one where Zuckerberg calmly whiplashes a lawyer, with his candour, and then turns away to the window saying, "Its raining outside" (or was it the other way round - Need to watch it again to find out).
I can already begin counting the multiple Oscar nominations - costumes, background score, editing, Performances (deserve the capital P, and I'll return to it), direction, cinematography, but most of it, and allow me to be repetitive, MOST OF IT, to some superlative writing, and crackling lines, by the scores!. Sample one (and you'll be queuing up outside the theaters for the flick):
And don't we just need to queue up at the box office, if for nothing more but to pay obeisance to the new age religion & its founder, considering all of us, who're reading this now, spend a substantial chunk of our daily existence either being on the site, or when logged out, wondering what to post next, or who to add/poke, and what to like or dislike. Its an addiction indeed, and there's no respite in sight. Boo, did I just go?
The movie's a clever adaptation of the book 'The Accidental Billionaires', and that's another lock-in for an Academy nomination, though I haven't flipped those pages yet. Hope the book lives up to the movie. :-)
The performances are great, with Jesse Eisenberg playing the protagonist with the required geek-quotient, and bringing to life the uneasy genius of the man. A special mention needs to be kept aside for Justin Timberlake. I didn't think he could act as well as he crooned. He just brought sexy back! And Andrew Garfield is going to step out into raining female adulation. Tobey Maguire might not be missed in the next Spiderman flick.
The experience of the movie makes you sit up and take stock of your own life. Here's a Harvard grad (alright, he already is 'up there' by the virtue of his pedigree), passionate yet vengeful, not necessarily of the virtuous variety, and we may find him, being boiled in hot oil in the pan next to ours, on judgement day, but Goddamit, he's made 25 billion dollars and counting! You twinge in jealousy one minute, but then the script plots his decline, ending up friend-less, and possibly lonely, and you weigh the price of fame. The end credits usher you out, wondering thus, and simultaneously, cocking a snook at your more ordinary existence, with the Beatles' number, "Baby, You're A Rich Man"
Now where did my elusive BIG idea go! Let me get back to the search. :-))
