The Social Network is one of my favorite movies of the year, second to probably Inception. It has great acting, and great dramatization of a simple story. On first thought, you would think who wants to watch a movie about Facebook? How interesting could the lawsuits that Facebook faced be?
Extremely interesting is the answer. The movie probably doesn’t mirror reality exactly, but the movie does well to tell a good story. For such a simple premise the movie doesn’t seem slow at all. And I believe the soundtrack has a lot to do with that. The Social Network’s soundtrack is probably the best original composition work for a movie I’ve heard since The Dark Knight’s soundtrack. The strings are tense, the piano is melancholic. The subtle natures of the soundtrack ironically multiplies the emotions you feel as you watch the movie. “Hand Covers Bruise” is by far my favorite track off the soundtrack. The brilliantly simple piano line on top of a wildly random and tense string vibrato evokes so much attention from the listener. The great thing about this soundtrack is that it can stand on it’s own and still have the emotional impact that it slams in your face. (It won’t slam a multi-million dollar lawsuit in your face thankfully.)
My favorites from the soundtrack
“Hand Covers Bruise”
“A Familiar Taste”
“In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Two other very close runner-ups for best soundtrack is the amazing Inception soundtrack by Hanz Zimmer and Daft Punk’s Tron:Legacy soundtrack.