Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have done a lot for David Fincher. The director's visual style has become almost impossibly hypnotic over his last several films, with the help of regular D.P. Jeff Cronenweth. But it's Reznor and Ross who spike the punch, so to speak. This is never more apparent than in their fantastic (and Oscar-winning) soundtrack for The Social Network. Its main theme, "Hand Covers Bruise", is a constant charge of boiling electricity, occasionally punctured by a simple, vulnerable melody. The actual Mark Zuckerberg might reject the protagonist of this film, but Fincher's Zuckerberg is that song, personified. "Hand Covers Bruise" melds effortlessly with the efforts of the director, the cinematographer, and the lead actor. It's a perfect synthesis that sustains itself for the whole runtime. And I think this is the true pleasure of watching the films of David Fincher: they contain enthralling stories and characters, of course, but to watch one is to partake of a heady cocktail of sight and sound that gives the viewer the richest, most invigorating rush, with no side effects and no bad aftertaste. If music video is the art of combining the pleasure of sight with the pleasure of music, then Fincher mastered those lessons well during his time at Propaganda Films. There are other reasons The Social Network is a masterpiece, and one of Fincher's very best. But this time around, its sensory pleasures were what won me over.