The Films of Fincher — Part 3: Fight Club (1999)

In anticipation of David Fincher’s new film, Mank, I am revisiting and reflecting on (almost) his entire filmography. The previous entry was The Game (1997).

In 1999 David Fincher’s first masterpiece was released. It was a film that captured the imagination of a generation, and over twenty years later, it continues to unravel a dark and disturbing parable about the intersection of consumeristic corruption and existential crises. Like many films of the late 90’s, these were the themes explored by Gen-X storytellers when they found themselves fully funded; and Fight Club remains one of the greatest expressions of this.

The film opens with exhilarating techno music as we’re taken through extensive neurological pathways, reverse-exiting through a hair follicle, and up the barrel of a gun, only to discover it’s jammed into the mouth of our protagonist, the Narrator, played by Edward Norton.

Something must be said about the opening credits, not only of Fight Club, but of all Fincher films. The opening credits and music, in any given Fincher film, is of the utmost importance. Always clever and creative, the narratives Fincher elects to put on screen can always be summarized with the style and sound of the opening credits. In the case of Fight Club, our story’s source of origin is the mind.

Our Narrator’s psyche won’t let him sleep, he has insomnia; eventually he finds a solution— support groups. The Narrator finds refuge when he faces his own mortality in the…