Post by BIGFANBOY on Dec 25, 2008 6:26:38 GMT -5
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Review by Gary Dean Murray
“I was born under unusual circumstances” starts the tale of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the newest Brad Pitt film and one of the best films of 2008.
The movie opens on the eve of the great hurricane in New Orleans a few years back. Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is in the last moments of her life. Her daughter (Julia Ormond) is on the bedside visual, waiting and watching her mother. In and out of consciousness, Mom wants to tell her daughter a story. We start by getting the tale of a clock maker who loses his son in the Great War. He unveils his masterpiece in a train station in 1918. It is a clock that runs backward in the hope that no other father will know the tragedy of losing their loved one in battle. As the clock is started, it is revealed that elsewhere a baby is born. While the mother dies on the table, the father sees the infant. Wrinkled and feeble like an old man, the father is repulsed by the child and abandons it at an old folks home.
Thus begins the tale of Benjamin Button. Daisy's daughter has a journal of Benjamin that her mother seems to have held onto for years. As the narrative device spills celluloid, we get the story of our hero, struggling as a very mature and aged baby. Since he lives at an old folks home, no one really notices him as anything more than a very old and very small man. The place is where lives end and so no one is around long enough to note that Benjamin just doesn't die. There is a very funny series of short quips by a man who has been repeatedly hit by lightning.
As the old/young man grows backward we see how life evolves in the Big Easy. Benjamin meets the very young Daisy and knows in an instant that she is his soul mate. But, their life takes many tries to connect. When Benjamin is eighteen and now an 'old' man, not an invalid, he takes off for an adventurous life on a tug boat. He becomes involved in WWII and with a 'younger' woman (Tilda Swinton). Benjamin finds out about love and loss through her. As he is becoming a younger man, Daisy has grown into Cate Blanchett. She is a ballet dancer and pursuing a life of her own. A tragedy occurs that brings these two together, though not forever. It is the romance between Benjamin and Daisy that is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The story is about a very extra-ordinary man living an ordinary life.
First of all Brad Pitt delivers the performance of his career as Benjamin Button. The magic of the cinema makes this a compelling experience, but Brad Pitt transforms himself in the role. Never for an instant does one not hesitate to take this journey with the actor. It is easily Oscar worthy. Cate Blanchett once again shows she is one of the most gifted thespians working in Hollywood. As she grows older, she gets wisdom and understanding. Played to an exacting detail, she is our eyes into the world of Benjamin Button, never questioning the concept. And I don't think she has ever looked so beautiful.
It was great to see Julia Ormond working, even in such a small role. A few years back she was the 'it' girl of Tinsel Town, but the major career just didn't seem to pan out for her. She has always done a fine job in the cinema, it is just a shame that we see her so seldom. Another small role was by Tilda Swinton. Her few scenes were a nice character arc in the life of Benjamin and her eventual ending scene was a great summation for the work.
The direction by David Fincher is a master's class on how to create a perfect motion picture experience. It has all the elements one would want from a classic style Hollywood film. There are very humorous elements wrapped around great moments of pathos. Like life, there are all the human emotions on display.
On more than one occasion during this movie, I caught a tear coming down my cheek. The emotional journey of Benjamin Button is the journey of America. This is a must-see film and one of the strongest contenders for Oscar in 2008. It is the kind of a film that can change a person and should not be missed.
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