Trailer: THE SOCIAL NETWORK looks dark, grim and compelling

By Matt Holmes /

Who would have thought a movie about the creation of the biggest time-wasting website in the world would look so interesting? After a couple of no-footage, dialogue heavy teasers, comes the first actual full length trailer for David Fincher's surprising zeitgeist movie The Social Network (Oct, Columbia) and it's riveting in it's own way; dark, grim and not quite what I was expecting. I can't decide whether it's the drama of the footage on show or more the beautiful and rather genius way that Fincher has cut it all together - though I am digging his murky 70's colour style lens also.I adore the opening, an attention grabbing montage of Facebook status updates over what The Playlist say is Radionhead's Creep sung by the Belgian girl's choir Scala. Knowing Fincher's persona the way we do, who's betting against that being a deliberate "F U" to all those who scoffed at him making a movie about Facebook? The opening is so eerie, and ominous. Here's the lyrics, just so you can see how apt it is; I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul I want you to notice when I'm not around You're so very special I wish I was special This is Scorsese circa Taxi Driver/Raging Bull for it's genius blending of the audio and visual senses... I guess I was gearing up for a finger-pointing, 'after the fact' interrogation movie, A Few Good Men style (especially as it comes from an Aaron Sorkin screenplay), but instead The Social Network is just as much a typical Jesse Eisenberg coming of age college tale as it is a movie about who said/did what, to whom. Whether or not you like Eisenberg's routine, he sure nails down the persona and mannerisms of founder Mark Zuckerburg. Andrew Garfield (in a role that largely won him the Spider-Man gig) and Justin Timberlake are the other two main players in this thing, and they both get some good dialogue moments in the trailer. The Social Network premieres the opening night of the New York Film Festival on September 15th, and hopefully will continue Fincher's terrific run he's on right now.

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