The Social Network

The original Mark Zuckerberg 

The plot centers on the creation of the landmark social networking website, but it’s not about Facebook. It’s about inspiration, betrayal, the weight of human relationships, the cost of success, and so much more.

The film kicks off with a rapid-fire, dialogue-heavy scene between Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his soon-to-be-girlfriend (Rooney Mara).  It’s an opening scene that is intriguing and hints at the motives that would drive him to create one of the most popular, influential, and lucrative inventions of all-time.  Of course with any rose of an idea come thorns, and Zuckerberg’s meteoric rise to fame (and infamy) comes at the cost of multiple legal skirmishes and shattered personal relationships. Being at the forefront of a trend can be be a lonely experience.

It’s a bit jarring at first, until Fincher eases us into the realization that it’s actually the conversations in these legal depositions that are driving the story. Lawyers ask questions, and the answers lead to flashbacks about Facebook’s inception; what is revealed in those flashbacks lead to further legal questions which jump us  yet again to one deposition or another, as Zuckerberg tries to defend “his creation” from various attackers. It sounds more confusing than it actually is; in the hands of a skilled orchestrator like Fincher, this unique structure works to the movie’s benefit, adding a sense of movement to what could’ve been a boring film, otherwise.

Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the inventor of Napster eventually partners with Zuckerberg to transform Facebook into the behemoth it is today. Timberlake manages to shed his celebrity image and slip into his role pretty well, portraying Parker as an extremely savvy businessman who is simultaneously chock full of B.S..

All in all - a great movie to be watched and also build up the killer instinct required excel as an entrepreneur.  You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

Inception

In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a single idea within one's mind can be the most dangerous weapon or the most valuable asset. A highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Shutter Island) plays Cobb, the Extractor, a man who enters other people’s dreams to steal their secrets. Cobb is hired to steal the secrets of Saito, played by Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Letters From Iwo Jima) , a businessman that turns the tables on Cobb, and then hires him for never-done-before job of inception- the planting of an idea in a subject’s mind. Cobb accepts the job based on a promise from Saito, who tells him that he is able to make a murder charge against Cobb disappear so he can return to his family.

The film layers dreams on top of dreams to the point where a unique keepsake called a “totem” is required in order to inform a character as to whether or not he or she is still dreaming.

Then you have people in particular roles like “The Architect”, “The Forger”, and “The Chemist” in order to pull off the job. Furthermore, dreams have rules: dying in a dream forces the dreamer to wake up, delving too deeply into a mind can cause an eternal slumber called “Limbo”, using memories to construct dreams is dangerous because it can blur the line between dreams and reality. In addition, intruding in the dreams of another will cause the dreamer’s “projections” (human representations created by the dreamer) to attack the intruders like white blood cells going after an infection. And these explanations only represent a fraction of the terminology, rules, exceptions, or details that are necessary for creating the world of Inception.

 It’s not a confusing movie if you provide it with your full attention. There are a lot of movies that ask you turn off your brain and enjoy. Inception is not one of those movies. There’s a lot to take in, but the imaginative and thoughtful delivery of exposition keeps the viewer riveted despite the amount of information required in order to understand the premise, setting, and plot.

It tends to be the case that lots of rules create lots of loopholes. Filmmakers can use these to cheat and let audiences fill in the leaps of logic. But Inception always plays fair. It will twist your mind but it’s not a film built on twists. It’s a film built on possibilities and the boldness of pursuing those possibilities.

The film deserves, demands, and rewards repeat viewings, but from your first viewing you can grasp the events on screen and how they interact with each other as long as you force yourself to be an active viewer. But with set pieces so intricate, so jaw-dropping, and so breathtaking, you’ll find that there’s no exertion needed to stay focused. You’ll already be swept up in the whirlwind.