The Supplemental Social Network (No, not G+)

So, the main reason I bought 'The Social Network' on blu-ray was for the extras. I figured for some reason, that David Fincher wouldn't allow one of his movies out on disc with a duff selection. I'd love to say it's because I bought all his previous movies on disc (I have) and enjoyed them thoroughly (but actually in most cases I haven't bothered). I sat down last night to watch the centrepiece, a feature-length documentary called 'How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?' and saw the rest tonight. I'm very pleased to say that all the extras were superb & just the kind of makings-of a film nutter dreams of. Very little by way of talking heads and instead an extraordinary insight directly into the creative process as you actually feel like you're watching the movie getting made, without an artificially-overlaid narrative or irritating voiceover. You get to see why Aaron Sorkin's scripts are so revered, exactly how David Fincher's direction redefines the word meticulous and why having one of the Cronenweths on the slate as director of photography is such a terrific idea. Great drama. A ridiculously hot (oh, and very talented) cast. It made me fall in love with the movie all over again.

















But. Remember I said I just bought this for the supplemental stuff? I really struggle with this movie. It is superb, there's no denying it and I admire the hell out of it. But personally speaking, it plays like a horror film for me. The characters are so hopelessly irredeemable that it's almost untrue. Even the Eduardo Saverin character (I'm not stupid enough to think that any of these characters are necessarily like their real-life counterparts) only stumbles across his soul after getting royally screwed over. I really do find this movie gut-wrenchingly depressing, maybe because of the universality of its themes, maybe because the characters' foibles are the same as those we encounter in people every day. Including ourselves. Quite how I'm going to watch it again or manage the remaining extras (the two commentaries on the movie) I don't know. Maybe they'll make the experience a bit more palatable to me.
I felt so revolted when I saw the movie that it contributed to me coming off Facebook permanently. Clearly I'm better off with The Supplemental Social Network. That'd be G+ then after all.