DVD OF THE WEEK

THE SOCIAL NETWORK *****
Dir: David Fincher. Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

David Fincher is a simply brilliant filmmaker and was robbed by those dolts at the Oscars. The Social Network, charting the early days of the phenomenon known as Facebook, is a terrific story – written with all the verve that Aaron Sorkin brought to The West Wing and his other projects – but it's Fincher's direction that really seals the deal.
It helps that the film has a career-defining turn from Jesse Eisenberg, till now mainly known for rather sweet slacker roles, who channels his dark side for a portrait of seething jealousy and fiercely suspicious
intelligence. His enigmatic founder anchors the story and is the riddle at the heart of everything.
That Fincher manages to make a seemingly unpromising subject so fascinating is both down to the quality of everything – writing, cinematography, a fantastic score from Trent Reznor, brilliant editing – and hardly a surprise, given his work on Zodiac where tiny details of the investigation were teased out in the same way he unpacks the initial workings of The Facebook. There are many stand-out scenes: from the opening conversation to the moment where Zuckerberg runs through the campus with his new idea – passing by the old world of social interaction, about to create a new one. Essential viewing.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole (****) is without a doubt staggeringly beautiful to look at: the owls, the scenery, the thrilling flying sequences, all are rendered with astounding vivid detail. The story, at once complex and simplistic – involving young owlets stolen to be part of and evil owl army (air force?) – is surprisingly dark, as one might expect from Zac Snyder, director of 300 and Watchmen. This could well be a problem for younger viewers. Other than that these Aussie owls are surprisingly easy company.
Indie horror films are always a hit or miss (see Psychosis) proposition: for every hidden gem there are half a dozen derivative cheapies with neither style nor originality.

The Clinic (***) opens – as do so many Aussie films – with a couple driving through the outback. The woman is pregnant. Skip forward 20 minutes and she's been kidnapped and had her baby removed. She is a prisoner in an isolated compound and there are more like her. Their ordeal is just beginning in what seems to be some twisted psychological test. Given the absolutely nutso premise – 'inspired by true events”! – it's a pretty good piece: well shot, well paced, well acted and often surprising. If writer/director James Rabbitts has a few more of these in him he'll go far.

It's 1981, the cold war is raging and a disillusioned KGB colonel starts passing secrets to French intelligence via a young French engineer based in Moscow. From their tentative relationship – rather than Reagan's 'tear down this wall” posturing – sprang the break-up of Soviet Russia. Farewell (****), named after the operation's codename, is a low-key but engrossing French thriller, revelling in the minutia of the men's enforced deception and the toll it takes on them. Fred Ward's slightly eccentric take on Ronald Reagan is a little distracting but, as in The Lives of Others, it's not the leaders but the little people who really count here. Recommended.

Director Ray Traviss made the rather good documentary Joy Division so following it with a horror film might seem something of a step down, especially one as luridly named as Psychosis (**). In it an American crime writer – the impressively named Charisma Carpenter – and her new Brit hubby move into an English country house and she, previously mentally troubled, is terrorised by sinister locals, creepy noises and life in general. Best to approach this with the 'so bad it's good” gambit, since much of it is seriously off-kilter. Perhaps Traviss needs more experience with actors and drama (and editing), but at least he's unafraid of rampant silliness or gratuitous sex and violence.