The Social Network (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.


8 Nominations
Best Picture (Win)
Best Director: David Fincher (Win)
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (Win)
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Win)
Best Sound Mixing: Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
Best Cinematography: Jeff Cronenweth
Best Film Editing: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter


The Social Network was a movie that had everyone laughing when it was announced.  "A facebook movie?" the world said, and then went laughing away waiting for better fare to come out.  From these, extremely, humble beginnings, The Social Network has emerged as the frontrunner for best picture with The King's Speech being its only real contender.  The film's success has a lot to do with the writing and directing, as opposed to the acting, which is usually what a films success is based on.

David Fincher's films have a certain feel to them, usually they take place in gritty, rundown, urban areas.  The Social Network lacks all of these.  The clean and crisp feel is juxtaposed to the grittiness of the characters, none of whom are what one might call "good".  The kinetic nature of Fincher's style keeps a story without any real action that relies entirely on dialogue interesting to a mainstream audience.


Aaron Sorkin is often considered one of the greatest living screenwriters, he is known for his heavy use of diologue, something often avoided in filmmaking, given that it is a visual medium.  His script for The Social Network (which is not 100% accurate, contrary to popular belief) makes the main character into something of a supporting character, as other people fight for him and over him.  This method of detaching the protagonist from the action is seldom used in cinema due to the logistics of having a protagonist whose main purpose in a film is to be unlikeable.  It's lucky for Sorkin that FIncher was the director, as he has experience with antiheroic voyeuristic main characters.


The music for the film has both classical tones, as well as more modern punk and electronic sounds.  The style that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross use has a very gritty style juxtaposed against the pristine visuals.  The most famouse piece Hand Covers Bruise is played on top of almost surgically clean shots, but has a scraping violin background.  The Academy has been trying to reach a younger audience in recent years and a win going to a hipper musician might be what they need (along with nominating a notoriously anonymous street artist, Banksy)