FILMS ... with Tim Milfull
The Social Network (M)
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
Rating: 4/5
120-minutes
Within minutes of the opening of David Fincher’s new film The Social Network, the jilted Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) has dealt with his most recent relationship break-up by writing a program that crashes the servers at Harvard University.
It’s an astonishing solution for dealing with grief, but a perfect way to introduce the audience to the powerful intelligence behind Zuckerberg’s wild eyes. Based on Ben Mezrich’s book, The Accidental Millionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, and adapted to the screen by Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote The West Wing), The Social Network is a fascinating analysis of the rise and rise of one of the world’s richest young men.
In a clever move, Sorkin tells Zuckerberg’s story through two court cases that were running at the same time; in fact, both shared witnesses for the defence and the plaintiff. In the first case, Zuckerberg is defending himself against charges of stealing the intellectual property of fellow Harvard students, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Arnie Hammer and Josh Pence), and Divya Narendra (Maz Minghella); while in the second, Zuckerberg’s former best-friend Eduardo Severin (Andrew Garfield) is suing him for his considerable share of Facebook – a company by now worth tens of billions of dollars, which was based on an idea pitched to the programmer by the Winklevosses.
In between alternating rounds of testimony by Zuckerberg, the plaintiffs and their witnesses, we learn of how Facebook became a global phenomenon that has attracted more than half-a-billion members.
The Social Network is nothing less than fascinating viewing, firstly for the background about the social network, but also for some astonishing performances from Eisenberg, Garfield, and the ever more impressive Justin Timberlake as the charismatic but duplicitous Napster-founder, Sean Parker, and an excellent soundtrack by Trent Reznor.
Upholster uprising ultimately uplifting
Made in Dagenham (M)
Director: Nigel Cole
Stars: Sally Hawkins. Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson
Rating: 3.5/5
113-minutes
For those not in the know, Dagenham is an East London suburb that became one of the Britain’s industrial focal points in the 1930s after Ford Motor Company decided to establish one of their offshore factories there.
By the 60s the suburb was one of several throughout the United Kingdom that offered much-needed employment for tens of thousands of people. In 1968, when millions of people around the world were protesting about everything from claims to better education and wages, to an end to the Vietnam War, Ford decided to reclassify the entire workforce of female upholsterers to a lower pay-scale, claiming they were unskilled.
Directed by Nigel Cole, Made in Dagenham is a dramatisation of the events that followed on from Ford’s actions, as the women affected so drastically by the decision decided to take industrial action.
Led by Rita O’Grady (Sally Hawkins), and advised by shop steward, Albert Passingham (Bob Hoskins), the strikers bucked the orders by their umbrella union to stand down and let other (male) union actions take precedence.
William Ivory’s old-school screenplay tugs at the heartstrings of his audience, and makes heroines out of O’Grady, Passingham, and Secretary of Employment, Barbara Castle (a much-welcomed performance by Miranda Richardson). Sally Hawkins shows all the charming naiveté of her performance in Mike Leigh’s Happy-go-Lucky and I’m looking forward to her upcoming role in the adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go.
This old-fashioned David versus Goliath story pushes all the right buttons.
Going the BIFF in a new way
With a new opening night, new management and new locations, the 19th St George Brisbane International Film Festival has worked hard to refashion itself in a new image.
With the tagline of The Plot Thickens... the event also takes some new directions, and there are some exciting things to see in the program released by director Richard Moore last week.
Opening night on 4 November will feature Australia’s first 3D feature, an updated version of Mark Lewis’s Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.
This time around, and in all their 3D glory, Lewis offers Cane Toads: The Conquest, and the news isn’t good for Australia’s ecology.
With the G-rated CineSparks being cut loose, BIFF has taken on a much more adult flavour; even so, those parents with brave enough kids might like to check out the Dive-In Cinema scheduled for screening at Spring Hill’s Centenary Pool.
Elsewhere, from Palace Centro and Palace Barracks to Tribal Cinema at the old Dendy site in George Street, the range of films and documentaries is breathtaking. There are a dozen or so Australian productions screening, with four world premieres, and 40 world movies from countries as diverse as Tunisia and Uruguay.
The late night Shock Corridor program is back with some frightening fare, including a bizarre take on the theme of Santa – Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale; a weird tale of a malevolent tyre –Rubber – and the Mexican cannibalism film, We are What We Are.
Those looking for something realistic should thank former docomaker Richard Moore, because he’s included quite a few documentaries, including one of the best I’ve ever seen, in Marwencol (pictured above). There’ll be more about BIFF in the next issue of The Indie.
• For more details about times, ticketing, and films on offer, check out www.stgeorgebiff.com.au
