The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments.
Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.
- Year: 2008
- Country: United States of America
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Studio: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company
- Keyword: new york city, navy, funeral, diary, tea, travel, hospital, historical fiction, period drama, magic realism, based on short story, fictional biography, reverse aging, introspective, serene, intense
- Director: David Fincher
- Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Mahershala Ali
One of Fincher's masterworks--though I like others better. He's definitely one of the only people alive who could have succeeded with this very intriguing story. There are moments--when Benjamin's coming into his own, both with Tilda Swinton's character and with Cate Blanchett's--that are amongst the finest and most invigorating I have ever seen in cinema. I'm curious how I'll find it when I rewatch it in a few years. I have the impression that as I come to terms with age and gather more wisdom in my own skin, this story will only grow in my heart and appreciation--for both the highs and the lows. That is a spectacular magic trick for a movie to do--and Fincher's downright full of them.
This movie is in my top 10 movie list in life. It is a cinema achievement that may never be outdone by 'anyone'. Considering that this masterpiece was shot digitally in 2007, it is miles above any CG effort since. For those of you that haven't seen it: "SEE IT". Besides a great story (with one flaw), this film makes illusion and simulation become reality. The one flaw: I have great respect for David Fincher, and I am going to go out on a limb and say that he must have been aware of this discrepancy, but went ahead with the story-line as written anyway. ( I hope that's the case). Benjamin Button was born "old", and regressed backwards to die an infant. The flaw in the story-line (and it's a big one), is that as he regresses to youth, he begins to have dementia (Alzheimer's symptoms), along with all of the arthritic pains and problems an old man gets as he ages. At the end, before he dies he loses his memory completely. Logically, since he was born an old man, those illnesses should have evolved from birth, and improved as he regressed in age. Strangely in the film, he is born with severe arthritis, and can't even walk until he is 7. Why then would he again experience these same symptoms as a child on the way to his death bed (or crib)? He should be in perfect health as a child, and regress to a "fetus", and then disappear. Other than that major flaw, this movie is a 10. Unfortunately because of the illogical way he dies, I had to give it a 9 out of 10 stars. One other issue with the plot: If we were to take this movie scenario and try to place it in the real world, Benjamin would have to have been born a "full sized", old man, and then after 70 or 80 years, he would have begun to shrink. Since the idea of a woman giving birth to a full sized man is physically impossible, our Benjamin had to be born old and "tiny". This of course is another contradiction in the plot, since Benjamin is small "twice in his life". We can't dwell on this flaw at all, because if we did we would never get passed it. To enjoy this movie, we must put all the facts and logistics of this scenario aside, and when we do, this movie takes us on a journey unlike any other ever filmed.