Day 686

I saw The Social Network tonight. It was a refreshing change of pace from The Tree of Life. The narrative was excellent. The soundtrack, by a musician I’m not fond of, was superb. And the acting was spot on, even Justin Timberlake was perfect for his part. I actually think he’s a pretty decent actor. Of course, Jesse Eisenberg stole the show as Mark Zuckerberg. I was expecting to not like the character more but I actually sympathized with him quite a bit; I don’t think he came off as such a terrible guy. The cinematography was even well done. To tell you the truth, I can’t think of a thing I didn’t like about the film.

Many big budget Hollywood movies get a lot of hype and so many art house indie films get a lot of hype but I think the best films balance those two extremes. This is really a lesson I learned from Robert McKee’s book Story but it’s also a truth I’ve been noticing more and more in the films I’ve been watching. To exist solely in either of those categories is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. But combine the best elements of the two and you could wind up with perfection.