The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review

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"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" reviews

Movie

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-11-02 22:16:29

Rating

4/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Benjamin Button will inspire you, a technological marvel and visual triumph.

Story

Spanning from WWI to the 21st century, Eric Roth's screenplay (based loosely on a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald) tells the unique story of a man named Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). He is born in New Orleans as a very old baby, the equivalent of a man in his 80s, who then ages backward into youth over the better part of a century. The film is told in flashback by a very old, dying woman Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who recounts her tale to her daughter (Julia Ormond) from a hospital bed during Hurricane Katrina. Left on the doorstep of a retirement home one night by his father (Jason Flemyng), Benjamin is brought up by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who runs the place. While there he meets a young girl, Daisy, who will become a key figure -- romantically and otherwise -- in his life. Ben does have some grand adventures: He goes to work on a boat, sees sea battles during WWII, finds love with an older married woman (Tilda Swinton) -- and gets progressively younger as the decades fly by. It all manages to be alternately haunting, romantic, funny, epic, emotional and incredibly moving and will likely to stay with you a lifetime.

Acting

Brad Pitt manages to deliver a thoughtful and subtle performance through all the special effects makeup and CGI. He does so much just by using his eyes. Cate Blanchett is equally fine as she plays Daisy from a teenager to an old woman and matches Pitt in bringing an entire lifetime skillfully to light. Her aging makeup is completely natural and she's very moving in the hospital scenes opposite Ormond. Henson is just marvelous as Queenie, a warm and understanding soul. Swinton is elegant and memorable in her few crucial encounters with Ben and plays beautifully off Pitt. Jared Harris (TV's The Riches) as the colorful Captain Mike, who hires Ben on his tug boat, and Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), as Ben's father, are also effective in their brief screen time.

Direction

Interestingly, Benjamin Button has been gestating for decades in the Hollywood firmament but needed time for the proper technology to catch up to it. Director David Fincher (Zodiac, Fight Club) with his early background at George Lucas' ILM, proves to be the perfect choice to marry a compelling story with spectacular visual effects achievement. He did not want to do the film unless the technology allowed one actor to play the role throughout the course of the film. Remarkably, they were able to achieve this superimposing Brad Pitt's face and eyes into all the incarnations of Ben Button. In one sequence, Pitt looks just like he did in Thelma and Louise. It's an amazing feat. He has seamlessly created a unique universe without ever bringing attention to it, advancing the art of screen storytelling leaps and bounds ahead of everything else that has come before. Benjamin Button is a plaintive and provocative meditation of life, death and what we do while we are here. It's the stuff of dreams.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 4 stars.

Movie

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-01-29 14:54:20

Provider

Review

Almost twenty years after the first script draft F Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s short story becomes a close to three hours epic with Brad Pitt as the baby born in an old man's body who grows younger each year.

Abandoned at an old folks tenement home by his industrious (but widowed by the birth) father, Benjamin Button is a baby with the afflictions and appearance of an old man. Taken in by the home's matron, Queenie, he lives amongst the old folks and learns some of life's most important lessons: Loving and caring should last a lifetime, but death is inevitable. And as a wizened boy he meets a young visitor, Daisy and a lifelong love begins.

Benjamin's life lived backwards makes this story, of an unordinary man living what could have be an ordinary life, fascinating and it's packed with joy and sadness. As he explores the world and seeks truth and understanding of the world around him - How it treats him, how he treats it and the people he comes across in it - it makes for one of the most tremendous cinematic treats you're ever likely to see.

Pitt and Blanchett (as Daisy) are excellent. There's plenty of examples in their careers of strong individual performances. Now the initial chemistry we saw in Babel burns bright with their every appearance together. And high praise must be lauded upon the makeup and costume designers too for giving them believable and acceptable on-screen personas across the full range of their characters lives, but still allowing their first class acting talents to dominate.

Director David Fincher has a reputation for memorable and individual film-making: The imagery of Fight Club, the ambiance of Zodiac, the tension of Se7en, the sensory overload of Alien3 and scope of The Game. He's at the peak of his powers with Benjamin Button and the film is steeped in the full breadth of him doing what he does best: Making unique cinema filled with emotion and moments. It's new and unique, yet filled with everything that makes most of us go to the cinema.

The film overflows with vignettes, subplots and idiosyncrasies. Shot in various styles and on different stocks, they tug at your heart, make you laugh out loud and then revel with excitement and discovery.

At it's heart this is a love story. Partly for a couple, but primarily for a life. There aren't many film's with a running time of nearly three hours that leave you wanting more. This does. It's practically perfect film-making. Proving cinema is still one of the most important forms of storytelling and at it's best when shared. Like life really, only better.